Assessment of the Counselling Needs of Distance Education Students in a Ghanaian Public University

Abstract

Needs assessment is a prerequisite for developing comprehensive and relevant counselling services for students. This study investigated the counselling needs of distance students, focusing on the diploma students of the College of Distance Education of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. The descriptive design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 36,798 with a sample size of 1110. Purposive, stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the respondents. The instrument used for the data collection was the questionnaire. The data were analysed, using descriptive (means and standard deviations) and inferential (independent samples t-test and ANOVA) statistics. The study revealed that the most important counselling needs of students were related to how to meet deadlines, how to prepare and attend job interviews and how to relate well with lecturers. The study also showed that the marital status and programme of study were significant determinants of the counselling needs of students. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that the Management of the College of Distance Education at the University of Cape Coast should ensure that counselling services be based on the most prevalent counselling needs of the students.