The Relationship between University Governance and Female Students’ Academic Success: A Case of the University of Koudougou in Burkina Faso

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(1)The Relationship between University Governance and Female Students’ Academic Success: A Case of the University of Koudougou in Burkina Faso. by. Nanmwin-None Somé. A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of. MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. Major: International Human Resource Development. Advisor: Shir-Tau Tsai, Ph.D.. National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan May, 2013.

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(3) AKNOWLEDGEMENT Through the process of my work on this master thesis, many people have helped me in different ways. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge them. First and foremost, all thanks to the Divine Providence for providing me with good health and peace of mind all through. My deep and sincere gratitude go to Dr. Shir-Tau Tsai who provided guidance, counseling, and the support I needed to complete this project. I cannot go silent about his great mentorship and his unconditional availability to read and provide good feedback. Indeed, Dr. Tsai was not only a true professional but he also played the role of a caring mentor. My special thanks go to Dr Chang for her advices through her special topic class. Much of the work could not have been done without the support of my committee members: Dr. Lai and Dr. Pai Po Lee who encouraged me throughout the proposal meeting and provided me guidance. I want to particularly thank my fiancé, Maxime Z. SOME for his love and support. I’m very fortunate to have him as a life partner. Finally, I’m indebted to my family for their confidence in me, prayers and support.. Thanks to everyone that supported me through. May the Almighty bless every one of you..

(4) ABSTRACT The style of governance in public universities of developing countries often poses problems and requires certainly changes in the system by the adoption of new and appropriate practices. Nowadays academic failure is becoming very common in African universities; however girls usually experience such failures as early as in high school and very often through the university level. The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors behind female failures at university and explore how the university governance in practice could better contribute to their success. A qualitative approach is use to collect data from female students and faculty members at the University of Koudougou (Burkina Faso) through a semi-structured interview. Fifteen (15) female students and three (03) faculty members had been interviewed and some structural dysfunctions in the actual governance at the University of Koudougou affecting female students’ academic success have been found.. Keywords: Academic success, academic failure, university governance, female student.. . I.

(5) TABLE OF CONTENT Abstract .......................................................................................................................... I Table of Content............................................................................................................II List of Tables ...............................................................................................................IV List of Figures ...............................................................................................................V CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION..................................................................................1 Background of the Study .......................................................................................1 Research Purposes .................................................................................................3 Research Questions................................................................................................4 Significance of Study.............................................................................................4 Delimitations and Limitations................................................................................5 Definition of Terms................................................................................................5 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW .....................................................................6 Definitions of University Governance ...................................................................7 Models of University Governance .........................................................................8 University Governance Issues..............................................................................12 University Governance in Burkina Faso..............................................................14 Factors Affecting Students’ Success and Failure.................................................17 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................................22 Research Framework ...........................................................................................22 Research Method .................................................................................................23 Research Instrument.............................................................................................24 Research Subject..................................................................................................25 The Interviewees Information..............................................................................26 II.

(6) Data Collection and Analysis...............................................................................27 Research Procedure..............................................................................................30 Reliability and Validity of the Study ...................................................................33 CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS....................................................34 Findings from the Female Students .....................................................................34 Findings from Faculty Members..........................................................................41 Discussions ..........................................................................................................44 CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ..........................................49 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................49 Suggestions ..........................................................................................................52 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................57 APPENDIX: A1 The Instrument .................................................................................60 APPENDIX: A2 The Instrument .................................................................................62 APPENDIX: B Female Students’ Coding Result Table ..............................................64 . III.

(7) LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Students’ academic success rate at the Department of Economic and Management Sciences…………………………………………………………..……..2 Table 1.2 Students’ academic success rate at the Department of French Literature…..2 Table 1.3Students’ academic success rate at the Department of Geography……….....3 Table 1.4 Students’ academic success rate at the Department of History……………..3 Table 3.1 Female students’ information……………………………………………...27 Table 3.2 faculty members’ information………………………………………..........28 Table 3.3 Outline and shorten key sentences……………………………………...…29 Table 3.4 University dorm acquisition…………………………………………...…..30 Table 3.5 University dorm…………………………………………………………...31 Table 3.6 Social governance………………………………………………………....31 Table 4.1 Students’ findings on social governance…………………………………..36 Table 4.2 Students’ findings on academic governance……………………………....39 Table 4.3 Students’ findings on administrative and financial governance…………...41 Table 4.4 Findings of the faculty members’ …………………………………………44 Table 4.5 Research’ findings ……….………………………………………….…….48. IV.

(8) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1 Research framework…………………………………………………….. 23 Figure 3. 2 Research procedure………………………………………………………33. . . . . V.

(9) CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. This chapter explains the background of the current study. It also presents the research purposes and questions as well as the limitations and delimitations of the study. The last part of this chapter contains the definitions of some key terms used by the researcher.. Background of the Study “African public universities are experiencing structural crises since several decades and the reasons for these crises have different origins such as the persistence of armed conflict, civil wars, political instability, strikes (teachers, students) and the style of governance at universities’’ (Makosso, 2006, pp.74-81). The situation is so serious that many African public universities cannot validate academic years and assure the training of human resource necessary to the development of the continent. Sometimes, some countries are even compelled to close their public universities for few years in order to do a complete overhaul of the system of higher education. This has led to the flourishing of several private universities in many African countries; but given the high tuition fees, many students do not have access to these private universities. Moreover, the World Bank in the mid-1990s claimed that higher education was not a priority for Africa. This has contributed to the degeneration of higher education system characterized by a weak injection of funds and a lack of real involvement by States. Fortunately, the World Bank quickly recognized its analysis errors and encouraged African countries to support their universities in setting up university governance based on best practices (Samoff & Carrol, 2003). Universities in Francophone countries gathered in the Mauritian and African Council for Higher Education (MACHE) will create the Panafrican Institute for University Governance (PIUG) which has the function of a platform of proposition of ideas for the implementation of new university governance in Africa. Public universities in Burkina Faso also underwent crises and unrests, for instance the first university of the country created since 1974, actually has two consecutive years high school graduates who have not yet started their freshmen year studies because other academic years have not yet been completed (there are seven public universities in Burkina Faso). Except for the two public universities of Ouagadougou, the academic years are validated in other universities because of the reduced number of strikes. The 1.

(10) reasons of these dysfunctions on the campus are attributable to the various strikes by the professors or students, the university governance style in practice and political instability which prevent students to attend courses (Chouli 2009). These strikes and governance style may have a negative impact on students’ studies and academic success. During the research information’s gathering the researcher noticed that only few studies had been done on university governance in Burkina Faso and these previous studies did not link university governance and the students’ academic success. The current researcher having been a student in her country noticed that, most of the female students do not succeed in public universities, which is confirmed by the data provided by the Ministry of Higher Education (2009) of Burkina Faso on students’ academic success showing a low rate of success compared to male students. The question therefore is why most of the female students don’t succeed at university? Refer to table 1.1 to table 1.4 for the related issues. Table 1.1 Students’ Academic Success Rate at the Department of Economic and Management Sciences Department of Economic and Management Sciences 2008 – 2009 2009 - 2010 2010 - 2011 M. M. F. F. M. 2011 - 2012 M. F. Success rate 17.64% 15.21% 17.07% 12% 37.97% 31.21%. F. 48.83% 30.04%. Table 1.2 Students’ Academic Success Rate at the Department of French Literature Department of French Literature 2009 – 2010 2010 - 2011. Success rate. 2011 – 2012. M. F. M. F. M. F. 14.45%. 8.46%. 19.91%. 10.25%. 57.77%. 31.40%. Table 1.3 Students’ Academic Success Rate at the Department of Geography 2.

(11) Department of Geography 2009 – 2010 2010 - 2011. Success rate. 2011 - 2012. M. F. M. F. M. F. 11.47%. 9.43%. 41.66%. 30.14%. 48.54%. 12.85%. Table 1.4 Students’ Academic Success Rate at the Department of History Department of History 2010 - 2011. 2009 – 2010. Success rate. 2011 – 2012. M. F. M. F. M. F. 50.21%. 24.46%. 12.28%. 20.53%. 40.29%. 21%. Burkina Faso has a female dominated population with 51.7% of women according to the last population census in 2005; in addition to that, recently in 2010, the National Assembly passed a law relative to the presence of women in political and administrative structures to a minimum of 30% since the government noticed that females are excluded and cannot contribute properly to the development of the country. However to implement such a measure, it should ensure the presence of literate female human resources specially those who have at least a university training. This research seeks to identify the relationship between university governance and students’ academic success and formulate suggestions to enhance public university governance in Burkina Faso which will increase students, especially female students’ success for their proper participation to the development of the country.. Research Purposes Based on the research background assessment, the purposes of this study are to investigate: 1.. The governance of the University of Koudougou in Burkina Faso. 2.. The relationship between the university governance and female 3.

(12) Students’ academic failures 3.. Factors that contribute to students’ failure at the University of Koudougou. 4.. How to make female students succeed through public university governance in Burkina Faso.. Research Questions In accordance with the research purposes, the researcher has identified four (04) questions that need to be answered during the course of the research. 1.. How is the governance of the governance at the University of Koudougou?. 2.. Is there any relationship between University governance and students’ academic failures?. 3.. What are the factors that contribute to female students’ academic failure at the University of Koudougou. 4.. How to make female students successful through Burkina Faso’ public Universities governance?. Significance of Study The general purpose of this study is to investigate the governance of public universities in Burkina Faso. Therefore after completion of this study, the research would have permitted on one hand to better understand the governance of public universities in Burkina Faso. On the other hand, the findings of the research would be a valuable basis for improving the students training conditions. Specially, the study will contribute to helping female students succeed trough the university governance in practice in public universities in Burkina Faso. In addition to that, this research will encourage the government to undertake policies favorable for female students at public universities, on the other hand effective implementation of these policies in favor of female students will boost their success so that they can contribute to the national economic development of Burkina Faso. One other major contribution of this study concerns the literature, the findings of this research will add literature to factors affecting students’ academic success and will also add literature to university governance in general and the governance of public Universities in particular.. 4.

(13) Delimitations and Limitations The present study investigates the relationship between university governance and the female students’ academic success. The study aims to provide information about the reasons behind female student’s failures. Therefore, three main delimitations have been formulated by the researcher and to which correspond three limitations. In doing so, the researcher aims at setting a scope in order to make the research more feasible and more concise.. Delimitations The first delimitation of this study pertains to the fact that the research will be conducted in Burkina Faso and female students are only taken into consideration. The study is also delimited to the effect of University governance on female students’ academic success at public Universities. The third and last delimitation concerns the method of data collection used. In fact, a semi-structured interview is used to gather the information from fifteen female students and three faculty members.. Limitations Because of the delimitations the present research, one should exercise cautious in generalizing the findings of this research to other countries or male students. Due to the limited number of research subjects, the results again should be generalized with care.. Definition of Terms University governance University governance is the set of factors that contribute to students’ academic success. Thus, it is based on three components: social governance, administrative and financial governance and academic governance.. Academic success In the context of this research academic success is defined as the fulfillment by a student, the academic requirements defined by the required grades or performance to 5.

(14) move gradually from lower class to upper ones. Thus, a student is successful when he/she reaches the required performance to move up.. Academic failure The Academic failure is the phenomenon of students leaving university without qualification or diploma for having not reached the required performance to move up.. CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides an overview of the literature on the theme of this study. The author begins by going through the definition of University governance. Elements such as University governance models, University governance issues and University governance in Burkina Faso, factors affecting students’ academic success and failure are reviewed here. In addition to that, a presentation of the University of Koudougou is provided.. 6.

(15) Definitions of University Governance University governance refers to the structure and process of authoritative decision making across issues that are significant for external and internal stakeholders of a university (Gayle, Tewarie, & White, 2011, p. 1). University governance is concerned with the determination of values inside universities, their systems of decision-making and resource allocation, their mission and purposes, the patterns of authority and hierarchy, and the relationship of universities as institution to the different academic worlds within and the worlds of government, business and community (Marginson & Considine, 2000, p. 25). For the Panafrican Institute of University Governance, university governance aims to: Identify and share good practice in university; strengthen the capacity of schools and help strengthen the leadership of the institutions managers; develop tools for collection and analysis of reliable and recent data, design and implement awareness and training actions to university governance; develop a professional culture of university governance; develop on a voluntary basis assessment tools for the governance of higher education institutions and more generally of all its players. Kohler and Huber (2006) proposed an approximate definition of (good) higher education governance as “a method of reaching agreement on valid objectives and orientations of higher education (fitness of purpose) and of developing strategies and instruments to implement them in practice. In order to accomplish this aim, it should offer a space for the negotiation of interests of the diversity of stakeholders respecting the multiple mission of higher education to best serve the interests of the whole of society and should be a participative process as well as a model of and preparation for life as an active citizen in a democratic society. Such a process should be based on transparent procedures and tasks and contain the capacity to reach, win acceptance for and implement decisions (legitimacy and efficiency) and be sufficiently flexible to adapt to diverse contexts on the basis of common principles’’ (p. 13). Effective university governance provides institutional purpose, clarifies strategic direction, identifies priorities, and exerts sufficient control to manage outcomes. The attitudes and values of individual leaders, together with the underlying organizational culture, are at least as important for governance as institutional structure (Gayle, Tewarie, & White 2011). 7.

(16) The three first definitions (Gayle, Tewarie, & White, Marginson& Considine and PIUG) are much dominated by a shareholder approach. They are applicable and useful in universities where private shareholders are involved. Most of the conflict will be between the shareholders and chairman of the university. For the other definitions, governance is centred on the leader. However, this partnership approach integrates all parties to achieve the objectives and expected results. considering the context of Africa, there is a lack of private funding in universities; funds that support the functioning of the university are provide by the state and its partners. In conclusion, all these definitions are inadequate in so far as most African public universities are concerned; they are applicable to universities that would have private shareholders. In the case of our study, it is a public university without private funding. However, the panafrican institute of university governance (PIUG) which is responsible for proposing a model of university governance in francophone Africa has a timid approach. Its proposal tends to search for particularly best practices centred on the "leader" without actually involving students in university governance. Charreaux (2004) offered a cognitive theory of governance considering that the governance is a set of mechanism that has the potential to create value through learning and innovation. Taking inspiration from this approach, the researcher suggest that university governance must be assessed not only by taking into account the degree of organization and its efficiency, but also and especially based on criteria such as transparency, participation and shared responsibilities between the different actors and involved parties (students, professors, non-teaching staff and administration). To this end and for students’ success, University governance is the set of factors that contribute to students’ academic success. Thus, it is based on three components: social governance, administrative and financial governance and academic governance.. Models of University Governance Balbridge (1971, pp. 2-7) investigated models of University governance and gave the bureaucratic, collegial and political models. The bureaucratic model (p. 2), is defined bureaucracies as networks of social groups dedicated to limited goals, organized for maximum efficiency, and regulated according to the principle of legal-rationality (rules, regulations, and careful 8.

(17) procedures), rather than friendship, loyalty to family, or allegiance to a charismatic leader. He said that the bureaucratic model tells much about authority, but not much about the other types of power-power based on non legitimate threats, on the force of mass movements, on expertise, or on appeals to emotion and sentiment. In addition to that, this model explains much about the formal structure, but very little about the processes that give it dynamism. A description of the static institutional arrangements may be interesting but it does little to explain the institution in action. Besides, the bureaucratic paradigm deals with the formal structure at anyone point in time, but do not explain how the organization changes overtime. Finally, the bureaucratic model does not deal extensively with policy formulation, it explains how policies may be carried out in the most efficient fashion after they are set, but says little about the process by which a policy is established in the first place. And it does not deal with political issues, such as the struggles of groups within the university who want to force policy decisions toward their special. The collegial model (p. 4) is based on the need to establish a dialogue between faculties in order to define the educational system. According to this concept, the community of scholars would administer its own affairs, having few dealings with bureaucratic officials. The second thread of the collegial argument has to do with the professionalization of the academic community. The argument for adopting a collegial form of organization, is given strong support by the literature on professionalism, which emphasizes the professional's ability to make his own decisions and his need for freedom from organizational restraints. He found that the collegial model fails to deal adequately with conflict. The author argued that, both bureaucratic and collegial models, offered some helpful suggestions about the organizational nature of the university, but at the same time each missed many important features. For him universities have been managed according these two models that revealed themselves ineffective and then and developed a new model, the political model. This political model (p.7) is characterized by the existence of a complex social structure of the university which generates conflicts; many forms of power and pressure that affect the decision makers; a legislative stage in which these pressures are translated into policy and a policy execution phase which eventually generates feedback with the potential for new conflicts. He said that the social structure is a configuration of social groups, which may have basically different life-styles and 9.

(18) political interests. Often the differences lead to conflict, since what is in the best interest of one group maybe in the worst interest of another. The university has a particularly complex pluralistic social structure because many groups inside and outside are applying pressure according to their own special interests. Interest articulation is the expression of values and goals in a way persuasive enough to obtain favorable action by decision-making bodies. Trakman (2008) gave five models of university governance: University governance by the academic staff, corporate governance, trustee governance, stakeholder governance and amalgam models of governance models (pp. 66-74). University governance by the academic staff, the most traditional model of university governance assumes that universities should principally be governed by their academic staff which is sometimes identified with collegial governance. He said that, this usually occurs either by granting expansive governance powers to university senates or by significant faculty representation on boards of governors, or both. He added that a pervasive reason for this model is that academic staff ordinarily is best equipped to understand the academic goals and aspirations of a university and how to achieve them. Corporate governance is based on a business-case model for universities. It is grounded in the captivating rationale of corporate efficiency, in reaction to the criticisms that public universities are poorly managed or fiscally inefficient and on the assumption that modeling on corporate governance can redress these deficiencies. He said that supporters of the corporate governance model insist that universities should be governed by professionals who are trained and experienced in corporate policy and planning, and able to direct management efficiently. The author finally concludes that universities need to be ‘’corporatized’’ to some degree if they are to be governed responsibly. The extent to which universities choose to adopt a corporate governance model depends on the context. For him the issue is to determine the governance model that best suits the context, knowing that a model suited to one context may be ill-fitting in others. Trustee governance, according to the author, is different from shared governance. The author highlighted that shared governance sometimes described as collegial governance is based on the representational notion that universities ought to be run collegially by those with a stake in it. Trustee governance is not directly concerned with stakeholder representation in governance. Rather, it refers to the manner of governance, 10.

(19) specifically governance through a trust relationship. This trustee model is articulated structurally through the mechanism of trust duties. He said that in reality, the trustee model is vague at best. There are few instances of it serving as a pervasive model of governance in public universities, although trusteeship is often invoked to stress how a particular university fulfills its fiduciary duties towards its students, staff, government and the public at large. Stakeholder model of governance, identified variously with collegial and representative governance, occurs when governance is vested in a wide array of stakeholders including, among others, students, academic staff, alumni, corporate partners, government and the public at large. The author said that this model is different from corporate governance. Stakeholder governance conceives of governance authorities as broadly representative as distinct from professional and business focused boards; and the stakeholders’ mandate extends beyond the efficient management and fiscal responsibility of corporate governance boards. The author found that the problem with stakeholder governance is in determining which stakeholders ought to be represented on governing bodies, the manner of their representation and the extent of their authority. At its most polarizing, stakeholder governance regresses into an ineffective talking shop in which stakeholders falsely assume that they are responsible to the constituent interests that elected or nominated them rather than to the university as a whole. Despite these deficiencies, public universities generally employ some form of stakeholder governance, notably having nominated or elected members of academic staff, students, or government representatives on their boards. However, they diverge significantly in the composition of those boards, as well as in the authority accorded to disparate stakeholders Amalgam model of governance includes some combination of academic staff, corporate, trustee and stakeholder governance. The amalgam model usually involves a readiness to experiment with innovation in university governance, such as by providing for extensive consultation on public interest decisions, varying from equity in admissions to environmental protection. The author found that the benefit of this model is that, it is able to incorporate the strengths of different governance models to suit the specific needs of a university. He said that universities may also benchmark their governance models on other institutions, so long as they recognize the need to adapt them in light of their own particular histories, needs and practices. Governance models need to be responsive to the governance context in which they are applied, though not 11.

(20) being subjugated by that context. Governance models may also grow tired and would need repairing or replacement. Universities that are attuned to these changes may be able to remodel their governance structures incrementally, accommodating evolving relationship between those who govern and those who are governed and in response to cultural, social, political and economic change. In modifying governance models, a first principle is to determine which is sought through that model and as a matter of application how and when to do so. These considerations require an understanding of what the pre-existing governance model lacks and what a particular modification might accomplish. Governance models may function differently in response to divergent institutional cultures. The author also proposes to modify the governance models in practice. He said that evaluating the sufficiency of a governance model requires consideration of its structure, operational efficiencies and ways of remedying its deficiencies. Modifying the structure of governance may be required in response to an external crisis, such as to a cutback in government funding or a crisis of confidence in leadership. The author concludes that the success or failure of governance models often depends on relationships such as between a governing board and a president.. University Governance Issues Bationo (2011) conducted a research on contribution of board of directors in university governance, at the end of his studies in master development, he proposed in his thesis to transfer a model of a board of directors of a Canadian university to the University of Koudougou, the author states that he found a series of social crises (strikes by teachers and students) which stemmed from bad governance, including poor organization and administration. He had analyzed the various governance bodies (Board of Directors, The Council of Training and University Life, the Scientific Council, the Presidency of the University). He believes that the board of the University of Koudougou does not have enough autonomy. Then he analyzed the transformation of French and British universities that brought them progressively to autonomy and a governance model focused on the enterprises. The author has carefully analyzed the functioning of the board of the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi in Canada to conclude the transfer of the North American model in Burkina Faso. From this, the. 12.

(21) author assumes university governance as a division of powers and responsibilities between shareholders, managers and the board of directors. The current researcher thinks that it is true that African universities have switched into the system Bachelor Master phD programs (BM phD) but the autonomy of public universities have not been acquired because the economic and industrial environment do not allow this revolution. In a Canadian university, which is self-governing there is a massive influx of private capital for its operation. The social and economic status of Koudougou’s region does not favor the contribution of private sector in the university budget. The state provides the budget which explains its right of inspection and the semi-autonomy. The transfer of the Canadian model in the context of Burkina Faso is inapplicable. Barakonyi (2007) published university governance and made a critical analysis of the Hungarian university system. From a multitude of facts and situations he shows that the mass (significant increase student numbers) and the increasing number of faculties and activities have changed universities in small cities. The author found that universities have been forced to outsource some of their services in order to maintain the quality offered to users. This leads university governance to be defined as a new paradigm that should resolve institutional problems first and secondly academics problems. Thus, university governance is not only academic governance but the treatment and management of environmental challenges. From this observation, the author assumes university governance as a division of powers and responsibilities between shareholders, managers and the board of directors. According to him, one of the most important developments is the appearance of the university governance paradigm, which originated from the corporate world. He concluded that in the complex changing and hostile environment, only university governance could help universities to survive. Hussein and Assimirian (2007) published an article on university governance and developmental autonomy of the university in Malaysia. University governance is largely about guiding the university towards achieving its vision and goals as an institution of professionalism, scholarship, research, and knowledge advancement. The authors show that university governance takes into account shareholders, students and government. While retaining its freedom, it allows working and getting good results for all. According to them, uuniversity autonomy may be viewed as the degree of 13.

(22) independency or dependency of the university, vis-à-vis the power holders, to self-determine the direction and extent of its growth and development, ranging from curriculum matters to student matters. In private universities, governance is given to the founder who works with the board of directors to ensure the development of the institution. The authors, however, found that external factors such as regulations of the State, the selection of directors, the organization of the university and various negotiations on the board .influence university governance. Thus, university governance is not static; it is dynamic because it adapts itself to societal, environmental demands to reach its objectives. In conclusion, they retain that initially the university was conceived as ivory tower (enclosed within an internal system) for teachers and students but nowadays with the progress of humanity, the university has become pragmatic and opens to the external environment for the development of the countries.. University Governance in Burkina Faso University of Koudougou The University of Koudougou is a public university of Burkina Faso created by the decree of 31 August 2005 in an attempt to decentralize and decongest overstaffed research and training units of the university of Ouagadougou. The university is located at 140 km at the west of Ouagadougou and is associated to the higher normal school of Koudougou (HNSK). Based on the data provided by the Ministry of Higher Education, the University of Koudougou hosts actually nine hundred eight thousand eighty five students (9885 students including 6916 male students and 2969 female students) and has two research and training units including the Institute of Technology and the Higher Normal School. The researcher has chosen to conduct this study at the University of Koudougou for the fact that, this city is known in Taiwan because of the presence of an important mission for cooperation in the medical field; Chinese Hospital of Koudougou and also, recently Taiwan sponsored new important infrastructures by building amphitheaters (large auditoriums at the university of Koudougou and President Maurice Yameogo 14.

(23) national vocational high school. All these factors have motivated the researcher to choose this city to conduct her research in this city. In Burkina Faso, the current governance of public universities stems from the French model after the Savary Act of 1984. Two main pillars (uniformity and superposition of a large number of elected councils) make up the base of the university governance.. Uniformity requires that whatever the nature of the institution, its. personality, its history and its environment, the organization and funding system result from a multitude of regulatory texts. A superposition of a large number of elected board committees; training and research units, Board of Directors, Scientific Council, Council of University Life which depending on the situation assist or supervise the President of the university in his job. Public universities in Burkina Faso do not have a method of governance more open to the society. They also do not have a greater autonomy like which exist in most English speaking African countries and private universities. In financial matters the university would benefit from global allocations and has the freedom to arbitrate the personnel expenditure, (operating and investment), recruitment of the teaching staff and students selection. Based on “ the evaluation report of the universities of Burkina Faso” (pp. 7-18) from June 2007 to January 2008 by the University Agency of francophonie (UAF), public university governance would be reduced to three types of governance: academic governance, social governance, administrative and financial governance.. Academic Governance Academic governance (p. 7) is the implementation of the teaching and training policies through two main bodies: the elected council that assists and advises and the President in his job and the President of the university. The elected council includes the council of training and research units, board of directors, scientific council, council of academic life and each of these councils is composed by the elected representatives of the administration, professors’ and students’ unions. Actors in the academic governance are: the president, the vice presidents, the central offices, professors’ and students’ union.. Social Governance 15.

(24) The concept of social governance is largely derived from that of corporate governance. Corporate governance is the way organization manage the economic, social and environmental consequences of their decisions and activities (Jarraya, 2005). It is basically the social relations between employees and the company, as well as relations with management and coaches. Good social governance is characterized by positive social relationship between these actors or in other words by the quality of human relationships. Social governance (p. 14) at public university in Burkina relies on the following seven areas: 1. The institutional functioning is characterized by collaboration between the various structures (collaboration between the UK and the regional center of university works (RCUW) representing the national center of university works (NCUW); national fund of support for education and research (NFSER); civic and democratic practices. Each of these structures has students’ representatives which fight for the rights of students. 2. The housing for students is characterized by open management with the participation of students’ representatives to the dorm allocation committee. 3. University canteens system is characterized by a transparent management with regular consultation between the regional center of university works and students representatives. 4. Transportation for students set up for student 5. Health care system 6. Cultural and associative life is firstly characterized by financial support from the university to students' associative, cultural and sports activities and secondly, the social role of associative structures such as assistance to students who are far away from their hometowns. 7. Scholarships and aid are managed by regional center of university works (national scholarships are managed by the scholarship and psychological educational guidance and information center and the financial aids by the national fund of support for education and research).. Administrative and Financial Governance. 16.

(25) Administrative and financial governance (p. 17) deals with the administrative and financial policies of the university. It is translated into financial and administrative actions through all the divisions (offices, training and research units, departments). This guarantees the rationality of administrative processes and financial flows as well as the accuracy and the consistency of economic and financial information. Administrative governance of the university is based on the management of students’ affairs, human resource management and how quick is the staff in the management of student’s affairs. Financial governance is based on the elaboration and implementation of the budget, expenditure initiation and control mechanisms for the operation of the university and students’ affairs by the financial department.. Factors Affecting Students’ Success and Failure ‘’Success originally referred to any positive outcome’’ (Dyke & Murphy, 2006, p. 357). In the context of this research academic success is the achievement of an educational goal defined by the performance of the student. Academic failure is the phenomenon of students leaving university without qualification or diploma and more widely with learning difficulties. McEvoy and Welker (2000) investigated antisocial behavior, academic failure, and school climate. They said that academic performance consistently is identified as being inversely related to antisocial behavior among young people. Poor academic performance co-occurs with or is a predictor of antisocial conduct. The authors found that poor academic performance is related to the onset, frequency, persistence, and seriousness of delinquent offending in both boys and girls. Higher academic performance, conversely is associated with refraining or desisting from offending. Moreover, poor academic performance predicts delinquency independent of socioeconomic status. Cognitive deficits and attention problems are common correlates of both academic performance and delinquency. Furthermore, though academic failure may correlate with antisocial conduct in general, it does not predict specific forms of antisocial behavior. Other variables, particularly family and peer dynamics intervene to shape the direction and severity of troublesome conduct. They highlighted that the 17.

(26) greater the academic quality of the school, the lower the level of school’s crime and violence. Although interventions that improve academic performance can have collateral effects on reducing antisocial conduct. For school climate and program effectiveness they said that effective school learning climates have direct positive effects on the academic achievement and the pro-social behaviors of students. Schools, particularly urban schools, are fragile cultures continually beset by disturbances that negatively affect the character of internal social relationships. In turn, these social relationships profoundly influence the manner in which programs that are intended to improve academic achievement or to reduce antisocial conduct are implemented. The relative effectiveness of interventions in a school is circumscribed by the character of relationships among and between those implicated in program implementation. For example low rates of daily attendance for students, high rates of teacher and staff absenteeism combined with low levels of commitment, and high rates of teacher and student mobility suggest feelings of alienation. A research done by UNICEF in Morocco (2004) identified the main causes of dropout at school and grouped then into two categories: intra-curricular and extra-curricular causes. Concerning the extra-curricular causes, the research found that family low income; child labor; the health of the student; family problems (parental separation, divorce); illiteracy of parents and negative attitude of parents toward the school; the long distance of schools and colleges; early marriage of girls are the are the main causes of school dropout. The intra-curricular causes identified by UNICEF in Morocco were related to students’ school failure that led to repeated absenteeism; bad relationship between teachers and students; lack of materials or inadequate infrastructure; lack of motivation, teacher absenteeism; lack of extracurricular activities. Kabore, Lairez and Pilon (2003) published “Genre et scolarisation au Burkina Faso : enseignements d’une approche statistique”, they said that the practice of early marriage, sexual division of children labor have a huge impact on girls education as well as their religion and culture can be correlated to school attendance. According to them the reasons of girls under-enrollment and their higher propensity to drop out of 18.

(27) school is related to the national culture which give power to men and women must be dominated. Most often these reasons are related to the greater involvement of girls in domestic work, the care of younger children by young girls, the parents fear that the schoolgirls will be over empowered might not comply with arranged marriages as practiced in some customs; risk of pregnancy and the perception of non-importance of school to girls because they are born to be a housewife, have children and take care of their families In another research conducted on perceived university students’ attributions of their academic success and failure, Mkumbo and Amani (2012) examined the applicability of the attribution theory in understanding how students attribute their academic success and failure. They said that according to attribution theory, success or failure in academic tasks is associated with three sets of characteristics. Firstly, people may succeed or fail because of internal or external factors, that is, because of factors that originate from within themselves or because of factors that originate in their environment. Secondly, the causes of success or failure may be either stable or unstable. If people believe that the factors are stable, then they may believe that the outcome of their performance is likely to be the same next time they attempt the same or similar task. If the factors are unstable, it means that they can be changed and therefore the outcome of performance may be different next time a behavior is performed. Thirdly, the causes of success or failure may be either controllable or uncontrollable. If the causes are controllable, then it means that people believe that they can alter these causes. But, on the other hand, if people believe that the causes are uncontrollable, it means that they cannot be altered easily. In addition to that, they point out that in educational context, four attribution factors are related to academic success or failure (ability, task difficulty, effort and luck). Effort is the most important factor in which learners can exercise a great deal of control. Task difficulty is an external and a stable factor, which is clearly beyond the learner’s control. Though ability is relatively an internal factor, the learner does not have much control over it because it is a stable factor that cannot easily be changed. Luck is an external and unstable factor and, as such, the learner does have a very little control over it. According to them, persistence is another important determinant in learners’ success in academic endeavors. Learners will be most persistent at academic tasks if they attribute their academic success to internal, unstable factors 19.

(28) that they have control, such as effort. It follows that for students to be able to persist at academic activities, they need to believe that they are competent and that by working hard they can be successful. According to them, students are also more likely to do better in their future academic task if they attribute their current failure to a lack of appropriate effort, and the role of the teacher in this case is to foster a belief in students that they can always do better by putting more effort in their academic tasks. Mcgowen (2007) investigated the impact of school facilities on student achievement, attendance, behavior, completion rate and teacher turnover rate. Dimensions as facilities and student attendance, behavior and dropout rate, school facilities and teacher retention or professional development and establishing community had been took into consideration. Concerning the facilities and student achievement, the author found that learning is a complex activity that puts student’s motivation and physical condition to the test. It has been a long-held assumption that curriculum and teaching have an impact on learning. However, it is becoming more apparent that the physical condition of universities (buildings’ detoriation, poor indoor air quality, noise, low classroom’ lighting ) can influence student achievement. According to him, technologies and adaptabilities of modern environments better equipped students for success. For the dimension facilities and student attendance, behavior and dropout rate, he said student attendance has long been linked to success in school. He also found that the illumination of classrooms has been found to have an impact on student attendance as well as achievement. Concerning school facilities and teacher retention, he said that factors such as working conditions which improve teacher job satisfaction have been found to have a direct impact upon school effectiveness. This study by conducted Mcgowen has only take into considerations the effect of the infrastructures on student academic success. Based on his article on factors affecting student success, Hans (2005) said that teachers who are positive and who create an open supportive learning environment encourage success. Teachers who are enthusiastic and passionate about their subjects inspire students to become interested in it, as well. For the student assessment, he argued that when students are assessed regularly with tools that provide insight into their progress and learning style, teachers can adjust their teaching methods to better support learning. Constant and vigilant assessment is required if teachers are to adapt to the needs of their students. This includes using tools like rubrics and checklists that 20.

(29) evaluate, not just the material the student needs to learn, but also the student's learning style. So far he thinks that after-school programs, extracurricular activities play a very important role in student success because they help students build self-esteem and socialization skills. Sports and other activities help students find hobbies that they're passionate about. This provides students motivation and direction for his future career choice. Students who attend schools with a high level of community and parental involvement are set up for success, while those who attend schools that exist in a vacuum have a more difficult time. Parental involvement is twice as important in predicting a student's success as socio-economic status. Schools can encourage parental involvement through one-way communication, such as newsletters. However, parents can be made more involved by educating them about the curriculum, teaching strategies and assessment methodologies. He concludes that schools should set up websites with this information, hold parent-teacher days and invite discussion on these topics. The current study intends to explore the effect of the whole process of the university governance on students’ academic success.. 21.

(30) CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter describes the research design and research methods used in this study. It contains the research framework, method and instruments. It also discusses the research subjects, procedure and data analysis. The results of the study will be presented in the next chapter.. Research Framework The current research aims at finding the effect of the university governance on the academic success of the female students. The figure below gives a picture of what the research intends to find out. It will also allow the reader to follow the course of actions taken by the researcher.. University governance. Female students’ academic success. Academic governance. Social governance. Administrative and financial governance 22.

(31) Figure 3.1 Research framework. Research Method As stated in the first chapter, the research method used in this study is the qualitative research approach. A qualitative method as opposed to quantitative method is a research procedure that produces descriptive data. It means that this methodology collects people’s own written or spoken words and observable behavior. According to Denzin and Lincoln (2000, p.3) “qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials that describe routine and problematic moments and meanings in individuals’ lives”. This is done through interviews, observations, case studies, personal experiences, life stories, artifacts, etc. Interview is certainly one of the most widely used methods by students. In this study, the researcher used a one-to-one type semi-structured interview via Skype to collect the data. Skype is software application which allows users to communicate with peers by voice using a microphone, video by using a webcam, and instant messaging over the Internet (Wikipedia, 2013) A case study is “the study of the particularity and complexity of single case, coming to understand its activities within important circumstances’’ (Stake, 1995). A semi-structure interview is “a process in which a researcher and participant engage in a conversation focused on questions related to a research study” (DeMarrais & Lapan, 2004, p.55). There are mainly two types of interviews: one-to-one interview and group/focus interview, but the most commonly used is the first one. In addition, an interview can be structured where the questions and order in which they are asked are predetermined or unstructured in which nothing is set ahead. ‘’However the most widely used is the semi-structured interviews in which there are a set of questions are used but the order or wording is not preset’’ (Longhurst, 2003). Interview is used when it is difficult to observe the behavior, or for feelings or for past events. Since the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between university governance and the female students’ academic success, the researcher thinks that semi-structured interview is the best method to be used in this case.. 23.

(32) Research Instrument For this study, semi-structured interview were used as the main instrument for data collection however because the researcher resides far away from the research participants, the researcher has opted to conduct the interviews with the female students via Skype. Semi-structured interview as opposed to structured interview is a set of questions that help the interviewer (researcher in this case) to get information from the interviewees. Semi-structured interview is flexible and gives room for the interviewees to bring up some aspects that the interviewer overlooked. This instrument by being flexible allows the researcher to gain more information from the respondents. Then, the researcher designed the interview questions with the assistance of her advisor and translated the questions into French because the research participants don’t speak English, their official language is French. After the translation she sent the two versions (English and French) to an English teacher in Burkina Faso to ensure that the translation is correct.. Peer Review After the design of semi-structured interview questions, they were reviewed and critiqued by professionals in the human resources management field, including the researcher thesis advisor and human resources management practitioners from Burkina Faso. Fundamental changes were not made in the questions, but both the researcher advisor and the professionals from Burkina Faso suggested reorder the list of questions. For example the researcher advisor suggested her to move the question, what do you think on the actual university governance of Koudougou at the end because it is critical question of the research, in addition to that, the professionals from her country asked her to reorder the questions in accordance with the three dimensions of the university governance to conduct smoothly the interview by moving from dimension to dimension instead of the old version where questions were not sorted by dimension. In this case, since the university governance takes into consideration all the aspects of student life on campus, several dimensions will be investigated such as the social governance, academic governance, financial and administrative governance. So, the researcher develops a list of seventeen (17) questions in accordance with the purpose and the research questions. The components of each interview included the following: 24.

(33) Social Governance The interviewer wants to investigate students’ dormitories, transportation system, the nature of their financial support, canteen system and their cultural activities so that she can evaluate their studies and living conditions.. Academic Governance The interviewer wants to investigate the academic buildings (library and lecture rooms), the involvement of female student’s representatives in decision making and their relationship with the faculty members.. Administrative and Financial Governance The interviewer wants to know the relationship between the students and the administrative staff and the availability of the administrative and financial document facilitating the functioning of the university.. Research Subject This research intends to investigate the relationship between the university governance and female student academic success at the University of Koudougou in Burkina Faso, therefore female students and faculty members were the target of this study. The researcher was able to interview fifteen female students from different department based on the following criteria: 1. The student has to be a female student at the University of Koudougou . 2. She has to be successful since the first year of study 3. The female student has to be at the university for at least one year. Because of the busy scheduled of the faculty members of the University of Koudougou, three faculty members had been interviewed by a French professor. 25.

(34) teaching at the University of Koudougou and who is interested and involve in the research. Concerning the faculty members three consecutive years of work at the University of Koudougou is a requirement. The researcher believes that within that period of time, the students and those faculty members have already get into the campus environment and its practices and might have useful information which can help the researcher to gather enough information.. The Interviewees Information Female Students As mentioned above fifteen female students and three faculty members were interviewed. The students are from three different departments (Department of Economic and Management Sciences, Department of French Literature and the Department of History and Geography). Five per department were interviewed, more precisely ten (10) female students are second year students and the last five are at their third year of studies. Their age is in the range of 20 to 35 and they have been successful since their first year meaning they have gotten the required grades to move from the lower class to upper ones. Refer to table 3.1 for the related issues.. Table 3.1 Female Students’ Information Year of study 2nd. Interviewee A1 A2 A3 A4 A5. Department Department of. A6 A7 A8 A9 A 10. History and Geography. French. Literature. 26.

(35) 3rd. A 11 A 12 A 13 A 14 A 15. Economic and Management Sciences. Faculty Members Concerning the faculty members, one professor of History and Geography and two professors of French of the University of Koudougou had been interviewed. These professors have been working at the University for a long time depending on their experience. Refer to table 3.2 for the related issues.. Table 3.2 Faculty Members’ Information Interviewees. Function. Seniority. B1. History and Geography professor. 5 years. B2. French professor. 4 years. B3. French professor. 10 years. Data Collection and Analysis Data Collection The data was collect through semi-structured interview as mentioned above. The interview is comprised of a set of seventeen (17) questions on university governance. However the researcher was opened to whatever additional information the interviewee was ready to provide. The interview time and date depended on the interviewee’s schedule and availability period. Interviewees were first sent the questionnaire before 27.

(36) the interviews could take place. Each of the student interviews took about one hour (depending on the internet accessibility) and was recorded using a recorder. The same questions asked to the female students had been used to interview the faculty members, except some few changes made to fit their status focusing on what they think of the different aspect of the university governance. Thus, the interviews were then translated into English for the next step that is data coding.. Data Analysis Qualitative research data analysis typically involves the analysis of the text from the interview (the transcript). The main goal of this process was to be able to clearly summarize the data and draw significant results. The different steps followed by the researcher for this research are as following: Step 1 At this step the researcher carefully read the transcript content over and over to find out and underline important comments relevant to this research matter. These underlined pieces were shortened and coded in the column next to the original paragraph. This step is illustrated in the table 3.3 bellow. Table 3.3 Outline and Shorten Key Sentences Code A1-01-01. Keys sentences Manuscript Difficulty to get a room at R: est-il facile d’obtenir une chambre en university dorm cite universitaire? I: il est très difficile d’avoir une chambre en cite universitaire car il y’a beaucoup d’examen médicaux à faire à l’avance et demande aussi beaucoup de frais. A1-03-03. university restaurant: Bad quality and insufficiency of food, opening hours must be reviewed. R:que pensez-vous du restaurant universitaire (qualité des plats, les heures d’ouverture ?) est-ce que les dispositions vous permettent d suivre normalement vos cours ? I: je pense qu’au RU les plats servis ne sont pas de bonne qualité et est insuffisant pour nous, concernant les heures d’ouvertures et de fermeture, elles 28.

(37) sont a revoir car elles ne nous permettent pas de suivre normalement nos cours.. A1-11-11. Staff available for students but slow treatment of students affairs. R: que pensez-vous du personnel de l’université: sont-ils disponibles pour les étudiants? Est-ce que les doléances des étudiants sont gérés rapidement ? I: ils sont disponibles mais les affaires des étudiants ne sont pas traites rapidement à cause du processus hiérarchiques qui retardent le traitement des dossiers.. Note. R: researcher, I: interviewee. In table 3.3, the code A1-01-01 can be interpreted as following: A1: refers to the first interviewee of the research 01: the first 01 refers to the first page of her interview manuscript 01: the second 01 represents the first key sentence in the whole manuscript. Such way of coding allowed the researcher to trace the original information in the manuscripts easily. Step 2: The next step was to put keys sentences in all manuscripts which have the same meaning all together and formed an abstract concept. Table 3.4 in below illustrates this step.. Table 3.4 University Dorm Acquisition Concept. Code A1-01-01. Key sentences Not easy to get a dorm due the medical examinations and fees. University dorm A3-01-01. Difficult to get because of the limited numbers of. acquisition. bed and required a lot of A4-05-08. money. The acquisition of the room is difficult because of bad rumors of girls behavior. A5-04-04. Many females cannot get a dorm because the demand is higher than the bed availability, The dorm environment is noisy 29.

(38) Step 3: Afterwards, combined those concepts representing the same meaning all together and formed a category. Such category was given a more abstract name than ideas to embrace the latter. This depicted by table 3.5. Table 3.5 University Dorm Category 1-1 University dorm. Concept 1-1-1Difficult to get. Code A1-01-01 A2-02-01 A6-10-05. 1-1-2 Noisy environment. A7-02-02 A8-03-05 A10-05-02. Step 4 The last step was to combine categories based on the research subject matter as table 3.6 shows. Table 3.6 Social Governance Topic. Category. Concept. 1. Social governance. 1-1 University dorm. 1-1-1difficult to get 1-1-2 noisy environment. Research Procedure In accordance with the research purposes, the procedure of the research covers the following steps: 30.

(39) Research Background and Purpose This step starts with the choice of the research topic. This is done by the researcher in accordance with the research supervisor. It takes into account the researcher domain of interest. After finding the research topic, the researcher wrote the first chapter that includes the research background and purposes.. Literature Review Study This step begins with reading the major studies related to the topic. After getting a grasp of what the body of scholars says about the topic, the research then began to write the summary of these readings into the second chapter of the thesis.. Research Framework After reviewing the literature, the researcher can now give a direction to the overall research by defining the research framework.. Research and Sample Design At this stage the researcher chose the research method to be used as well as the sampling criteria.. Data Collection After reviewing the literature the researcher now has an idea of the types of questions to be asked in order to get the information needed. The researcher played the role of interviewer to get the information from the target groups.. Data Analysis Using various coding techniques under the guidance of the thesis advisor, the researcher used coding and categorizing to analyze the data. With this step began the write-up of the fourth chapter of the thesis. 31.

(40) Generalization and Interpretation After analyzing the data, the researcher incorporated the different themes into the thesis. This step involved the interpretation of the responses gathered by the researcher.. Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations Write-ups This last step consisted of writing the findings derived from the previous step into the final chapter of the thesis. In addition, the researcher was able to draw the necessary conclusions and make suggestions to the policy makers, the University of Koudougou, the female students and the future researcher. The figure 3.2 below shows the process of the research.. Research Background and Purpose. Literature Review. Research Framework. Research and Sample Design. Data Collection. Data Analysis. Generalization and Interpretation. Findings, Conclusions and Suggestions Write-ups. Figure 3.2 Research procedure. 32.

(41) Reliability and Validity of the Study In qualitative research, the criteria of determining the reliability and validity generally correspond to the four criteria developed by Lincoln and Guba (1985). Instead of using the terms frequently used in quantitative studies such as internal validity, external validity, reliability and objectivity, they replaced them with notions as credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability.. Credibility Credibility can be viewed as internal validity in quantitative research. It refers to the degree to which the findings make sense. Usually to ensure credibility, researchers are advised to use the method of member checks, i.e. that participants are presented with their interview transcripts and the research reports so they can agree/disagree with the researcher’s findings. To ensure credibility all of the interviewees were later contacted by the researcher to find out if they agree or not with the transcripts and findings. All of them agreed with their transcripts and sent it back.. Transferability Transferability replaces the concept of external validity in quantitative research. The aim of transferability is to provide sufficient information for readers to judge whether or not the findings of the study can be applied to other settings. Therefore, it is recommended that qualitative researchers provide a detailed description of the setting in which the research is conducted. The detailed description of the setting is provided in Chapter 1 on the background of the study and in chapter 2 on the University of Koudoudou.. Dependability This notion can be seen as that of reliability. Researchers are encouraged to provide an audit trail, i.e. the documentation of data, methods and decisions about the research, etc. in order to ensure external scrutiny. To ensure dependability, the researcher shows the data coding results with the actual transcripts as Appendix B. 33.

(42) Confirmability Confirmability is about objectivity. Its aim is to show quality. For example, the researcher can offer a self-critically reflexive analysis of the methodology used in the research or use techniques such as triangulation (of data, researcher, context). To fulfill the requirement of confirmability, researcher triangulation was used. Indeed, the researcher, her thesis advisor and two other professors were involved in the design of the questionnaires, and also in the analysis of the collected data.. CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS This chapter first presents the findings of the research after the use of a systematic coding procedure to analyze the data collected. The findings of the female students are introduced first follow by those of the faculty members, then a comparison of the findings and end by a discussion.. Findings from the Female Students The findings of the social governance, academic governance and administrative and financial are as follow:. Social Governance In accordance with the content of social governance, questions were asked about the university dorm, the university canteen, the transportation system, the health care system, the cultural and sportive activities, the counseling center and the nature of their financial support from the government, specific financial support to encourage and specific action to encourage females. Refer to table 4.1 for the related issues follow by the explanations bellow.. 34.

(43) Table 4.1 Students’ Findings on Social Governance Topic 1. Social governance. Category 1-1 University dorm. 1-2 University canteen 1-3 Transportation system 1-4 Healthcare system. Concept 1-1-1Difficult to get (requires several medical examinations and fees, demand is higher than actual beds availability, bad rumors on girls) 1-1-2 Noisy environment (number of roommates, music and visits) 1-2-1 Poor quality and insufficient quantity of food supplied. 1-2-2 Inconvenient canteen opening hours 1-3-1 Lack of transportation system. 1-5 Cultural and sportive activities 1-6 Counseling center 1-7 Nature of financial support 1-8 Specific financial support 1-9 Specific action. University Dormitory 35. 1-4-1 Office does not work properly 1-4-2 Doctors non-availability; lack of medications 1-5-1 Some cultural activities but not instructive for females 1-5-2 Some sportive activities 1-6-1 Lack of counseling center 1-7-1 National financial support 1-8- 1 Lack of specific financial support 1-9-1 Lack of specific actions to encourage females.