A Study of Graduate on Time (Got) For Ph.D Students Using Analytical Hierarchical Process

Abstract

Over the years, many people make up their minds to pursue postgraduate studies especially in Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in order to prepare themselves to confront the demands and challenges of 21st century. However, the increment of Ph.D students causes both university and government bodies concern on the capability of the Ph.D students to accomplish the mission of Graduate on Time (GOT) that is stipulated by the university. As a result, this study aims to examine the factors that affect the Ph.D students’ time frame in University Utara Malaysia (UUM) along their learning journey. According to the previous researches, the factors of student, children, supervisor, financial, employment, infrastructure, training, skills, project and peer have been identified as the elements that impact on the ability of the students to attain the GOT mission. A survey form has been distributed to thirty experts from three graduate schools of UUM to collect their opinions on the importance levels of each factor using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. The consistency degree obtained in this study is considered significant as it does not exceed 0.1. The outcome of this study could certainly assist the university to ameliorate the current situation based on the important level of factors hence boost the number of Ph.D students to accomplish GOT in the near future.