Ascending or descending the ladder? A View of Great Zimbabwe University students on higher education as a vehicle for vertical social mobility
Keywords:
Vertical social mobility, hygiene factors, satisfiers, generativity versus stagnation, diploma disease phenomenon, self-actualisation, Great Zimbabwe University.Abstract
The article was an attempt to unravel the assorted sentiments of Great Zimbabwe University students
regarding higher education as a vehicle for upward social mobility. The researchers became
enthusiastic to undertake this study after detecting a steady increase in the number of students
enrolling for higher education amid a diversity of militating variables. A sample of 50 students
comprising 20 males and 30 females was selected using the stratified random sampling method. The
phenomenological research design was used and data was gathered using questionnaires, individual
interviews and focus group discussions. Psychological theories of Maslow, Herzberg and Erikson were
crucial in interpreting the findings. The study revealed that the students strongly believed that higher
education provides a gateway to a financially stable social life, albeit the expenses to be incurred. The
researchers also established that some students pursued higher education for other reasons apart from
financial and social benefits. The researchers recommended, among other things, that interested
researchers should conduct allied longitudinal research studies in which cohorts of respondents are
monitored over a long period of time in a bid to establish the extent to which attaining higher education
guarantees vertical social mobility.
