Stakeholder’s Perception on the Foundation Year: Case Study Somalia Higher Education

Abstract

The study seeks to identify and understand the stakeholders’ perceptions of the foundation year in Mogadishu, Somalia, with special reference to the first-year students in higher learning institutions.  The data collection tool used was a structured questionnaire administered between September 2023 and June 2024 to ensure enough time was granted to gather information as students moved from semester to semester. To this aim, the survey deliberately aimed for as wide a coverage of responses as possible and collected basic demographic information alongside the nature of respondents (students, lecturers, administrators, parents) and their detailed qualitative responses for multiple facets of the foundation year. Data collected was analysed descriptively to reveal tendencies, relationships and possible areas of improvement using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel. Some measures to validate data include: the study's data was reviewed by experts, and data collectors underwent intensive training to ensure the validity and accuracy of the data. The outcomes showed that 63,75% of participants described their attitude towards the foundation year negatively; they negatively noted how much it undermines students’ knowledge and contributes to the complaints about its complexity or inefficiency. Nevertheless, 37.25% of respondents benefited from the cutting-edge development of the teaching environment. The key issues of concern include the credit hour issue, the issue of the foundation year structure relative to the course structure, language major problems, teaching materials problems, and the fee issues. On the question of finance, 85.6% of participants opined that foundation year students rarely received a waiver for fees, while 74.4 % opined that the reform is not necessary for the effective delivery of the programme to the students. Moreover, there is a greater percentage response of 63.6% of the respondents who believed that the foundation year would not impact students culturally and academically, but with a caveat that this program’s duration should run for only one semester, if the government is unable to dismiss. Therefore, the following reform strategies are suggested to improve the foundation year based on the conclusion. These are to include initiating greater correlation strategies between the courses offered and the students’ disciplines of major concentration, the quality of course content, language instruction, the foundation year fees amendments, and the shortening of the program to a semester format. These improvements are aimed at enhancing the learning environment that assists the students in the preparation of their university education and improves the performance of university students in Mogadishu, Somalia.