Challenges amidst the Coronavirus Pandemic A Case Study of Business Administration (BA) Students of Ashesi University
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Abstract
In Ashesi University, final-year Business Administration students are supposed to undertake a capstone project that encapsulates their years of acquired knowledge in the university. Compared to the entrepreneurship and applied project options, only the Thesis option requires individual work under the guidance of a supervisor. Therefore, arguably, Thesis students require the most support. Unfortunately, in 2019, a coronavirus pandemic led to the closure of educational institutions, including Ashesi University. Since this situation led to a novel learning process for students, the purpose of this research was to identify the physical and emotional challenges the pandemic imposed on Thesis students and their projects. This research was purely qualitative and employed interviews and online surveys of forty-two (42) Thesis students within the year groups of 2020 to 2022 to reach the objective. In addition, six (6) supervisors were also interviewed and presented with online surveys to provide insights into solutions. The key challenges identified were the loss of an effective support system, data collection issues, the loss of a conducive learning environment, technology issues, stress, and anxiety. Some best practices such as the creation and maintenance of strong support groups, the increased awareness of online data resources, and counselling sessions can be used to mitigate these challenges whether Thesis students are working on the university campus or at home. This study also suggests the need for wellcontrolled research into the impact of peer feedback on writing as there is little quantitative or qualitative research in this field.