Table of Contents

Introduction. 3

The Scope of the Research. 4

Significant of the Research. 4

Statement of the Problem.. 5

Objectives of the Research. 5

Methodology. 5

Results. 6

Discussion. 7

Effect of Time Management on Academic Performance. 7

Time Management and Gender 9

Limitations of the Research Method. 9

Recommendations. 10

Conclusion. 10

References. 12

Introduction

The research topic of this writing is “Time management among university students”. Time management is an aspect that deals with strategies that are aimed at boosting individual’s productivity and efficiency. Therefore, time management can be defined as the capability of an individual, particularly in an institution, to perform assigned tasks that one needs to, and have to perform these duties within the stipulated time. Time management is crucial for most people in the society, especially for university students. The capability of university students to manage their time effectively and successfully will result in their academic achievement and overall performance. On the other hand, mismanagement of time in the university will eventually lead to academic failure. Therefore, time management plays a key role in life of university students as it is a determinant of academic success for university students (Balduf 2009, p. 275).

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There are diverse factors that act as barriers to the effective time management in the university. These obstacles that have a negative impact on time management are referred to as bandits. Time bandits are any kind of events that stop an individual from managing time efficiently. There are many time bandits that include telephone, laundry, shopping, watching television and internet, etc. Procrastination is another common time bandit among university students regarding assignments and take-away tasks. Many students in university fail to manage their time successfully because they have tendency to believe that they have plenty of time to finish the tasks they need to accomplish. This means that these university students procrastinate till the last possible moment, thus these people end-up performing or forwarding shoddy work. Lack of prioritizing among university students lead to poor time management, thus it has become very hard for these students to place important activities before trivial ones. The other bandits for effective time management among students in the university include poor setting of goals, as well as poor planning and scheduling, the element of perceived control over time, and preference of disorganization. Of these challenges, perceived control over time challenge presents the strongest challenge to the university students (Covic 2003, p. 48).

The Scope of the Research

The research on time management was conducted in The University of Bolton because the writer was among students of this university. Population of the university comprises of thousands of students of mixed gender. The organization is ideal for this research because students face challenges of time management all the time. Time management was a source of conflict between staff members and students for a very long time, thus there is a need to develop strategies that will promote the aspect of time management in the organization. This will ensure that students and administration manage their time effectiveness hence meeting their objectives set (Britton 1991, p.404).

Significant of the Research

The topic of research is appropriate because this concept has become an issue of concern among the university’s administration and students at the university level. The writer experiences same challenges because he is part of the student community in The University of Bolton. The researcher who happens to be one of students in this university uses a questionnaire as method of data collection to assemble data needed in research. The researcher will interact with the university students by administering them with questionnaires in order to determine how they manage time and challenges they face while trying to manage time in the university. The research provides vital information that will promote understanding of why students find the issue of time management to be challenging. The research on time management in Bolton University will provide vital information that can assist students and university staff to improve time management skills, while undertaking their duties in the university (Balduf 2009, p. 275).

Statement of the Problem

Most students in university waste a lot of their valuable time for activities that are not related to their academic performance, like watching movies during class time and avoiding assignments given by their instructors.  This leads to poor time management that eventually lead to poor academic stand. It seems that university students overlook the aspect of time management whereby, in most instances, they prioritize less important tasks over most important ones (Britton 1991, p.405).

Objectives of the Research

1. To investigate challenges that lead to poor time management among university students.
2. To find out why the aspect of time management is not easy to attain in the university setting among students.

Methodology

The research data was collected by the use of questionnaire, and research was conducted in The University of Bolton. The university had diverse students’ population thus received responses have an aspect of diversity and reliability. The researcher used a total of 20 questions to be answered by students in university and 10 of these questions were open-ended questions while the rest were closed questions. The questionnaire addressed the aspect of challenges presented by time management in the university settings. The questionnaire also covered the aspect of difficulty of time management and how it is hard for students to comply with demands of time management in the university.

The questionnaires were administered among 100 students in the university. The sample of students, used as respondents, comprised and employed the aspect of diversity. Respondents were of a different race, ethnicity, gender, geographical regions and political affiliation. The diversity element improved accuracy and biasness of results of the research due to the heterogonous population. The number of respondents was manageable, thus allowing conducting a better analysis of the data gathered.

Results

The specific areas of research in the university mainly entailed academic sector, which required higher aspect of time management. Most respondents in the questionnaires admitted being placing more priorities to non-important activities in the university like watching movies and visiting friends outside and inside the university (Britton 1991, p.405).  From the data, 78 % of respondents indicated that they poorly prioritized their academic time that leaded them to poor time management, hence poor academic results. These students admitted that time management is the key challenge in their academic life. The remaining 22% of the respondents felt that they have prioritized their academic life well. Research data analysis has also showed that effective time management in the university can result to higher levels of university achievements. The research also found that 67% of the students do not have academic goals and do not plan their time well, and, more specifically, these students do not have personal time schedules. 30% of the respondents do have time schedules and are setting their goals in advance, while the remaining 3% of the respondents are not aware and are not making any effort of setting goals and designing any schedules.

Students who had a good time management practices in the university were more successful than those who had poor time management practices. 80% of the respondents from University of Bolton believed that there was a need of enhancing time management skills by university, thus improving the academic achievement of students in the university. 20% of the respondents felt that students of the university have responsibility of promoting individual’s time management skills and the university has no role to play in enhancing time management skills (Balduf 2009, p. 276). 76% of the respondents said that time management played a key role in their success; while 24% of the respondents believed that time management had no much contribution to student’s success in the university.

Discussion

Effect of Time Management on Academic Performance

Research analysis shows that time management plays a key role in determining performance of students in Bolton University. This is because most of university grades mostly rely on a range of students’ activities. These activities include assignments, readings, and preparations for final exams, etc. The research results conducted in Bolton University show that time management determines academic achievement of an individual in the university. Poor time management skills in university will lead to poor academic performance, while effective time management results in good academic performances and high grades. This means that students have the responsibility of managing time in order to attain good grades in university (Britton 1991, p.405).

It was also evident that setting of goals influenced the aspect of time management. For instance, looking at the research results it is clear and evident that students who do not set goals face a lot of challenges related to time management. Those students who set their goals at the beginning of the academic timetable have few or minimal challenges linked to time management. Therefore, setting of goals by students improves time management. Planning and scheduling determine the level of students’ time management, hence determining performance level of the students in the university. According to the research results, poor planning and scheduling among university students present challenges to Boston University students thus leading to poor grades (Balduf 2009, p. 278).

 On the other hand, good planning and scheduling among students contribute to high performance. It is evident that aspect of time management interacted with other variables, which include self-judgment and self-monitoring to influence academic performance of university students. Effective organization among university students, as seen from the research, leads to success in academic life, while disorganized students in the university have poor performances. This means that the level of organizations among university students contributes to their level of performance (Britton 1991, p.406).

The research results also indicate that the factor of control over time played plays a key role in student satisfaction with the university, thus also determining the success of students. Research shows that students with great time management skills are more satisfied with the university life as compared to students who do not have control over their time.

Time Management and Gender

From the research, in terms of gender, it is clear that female students reported considerable greater results in all aspects of time management behaviours. This means that female students of the Bolton University have better control over their time, organizational skills, have good planning skills, and prioritize and set their objectives more efficiently. This, in turn, promotes effective time management skills as compared to male counterparts who generally have poor time management skills. The research also indicates that females in Bolton University constantly practiced the aspects of time management as compared to male students who did not practice the skill frequently.

Limitations of the Research Method

The use of questionnaires as a research method for collecting data had some limitations.  First, questionnaires tend to be impersonal, thus it is more complicated to comprehend answers from the respondents. Second, there can be an element of misinterpretation of the collected data, hence rendering the answers inconsistent and unreliable. Third, questionnaires have the tendency of enabling people to give false information and give vague answers. Fourth, open questionnaires are time consuming with regards to processes of analyzing and collecting the information needed.  Lastly, due to peer pressure the respondents might give answers only for the sake of and, in some instances, to impress the researcher. This will render all process of data collection unreliable and inconsistent (Balduf 2009, p. 278).

Recommendations

1. The researcher should use reliable and consistent methods of data collection in the future. The questionnaire method of data collection did not provide consistent results needed because there were more limitations in the method (Britton 1991, p.406).
2. The research in the future should involve more than one researcher to increase effectiveness and save time. Also, the research should be carried in more than one institution to increase the reliability of the data collected. There is a need to increase the number of respondents in order to increase the accuracy of research results.
3. From the research conducted, it is evident that university has a role of instilling better time management skills through designing courses and training that aims at promoting the value of time management.

Conclusion

Time management plays a key role in determining the success of students in University of Bolton. Time management, combined with various factors, leads to determining the performance level of students in the university. Effective time management skills contribute to better academic performance of students, while poor time management skills among university students leads to poor academic performance. Factors such as planning and scheduling, setting and prioritizing goals, better control of time, and organizational skills play a key role in ensuring the success of students in university. When these factors are absent, university students are challenged and their performance is affected (Britton 1991, p.406). Therefore, adopting the aspect of the effective time management leads to increased productivity and efficiency among university students, thus leading to positive performance in academic life.

The research method used needs to be improved to increase accuracy and consistency. Furthermore, the number of the respondents should be increased to boost the reliability of the data collected. In terms of gender, it is evident that female students at Bolton University respond positively to time management as compared to male counterparts. It was also noted that female performed better than male. This means that time management in the life a student is a key determinant of their academic performances (Balduf 2009, p. 279).