Students’ Fieldwork Experiences and Challenges The Case of the College of Business Education (CBE), Dar Es Salaam Campus, Tanzania

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate students’ fieldwork experiences and challenges at the College of Business Education (CBE), Dar es Salaam Campus in Tanzania using a qualitative approach. The study was conducted between August and September, 2016 and June and July, 2017. The respondents were 29 first year diploma and bachelor degree students from three different academic programmes, who were located in 14 stations in Dar es Salaam City, in both public and private organizations. The data were collected through individual interviews and focus group discussions while data analysis was performed using the content analysis technique. The study was guided by the social constructivist perspective. Findings yielded nine themes including students’ appreciation to the College for the fieldwork programme, timing for sending fieldwork letters to companies and need for formal fieldwork orientation, just to name a few. The study concludes that students still consider fieldwork to be an important component in their preparation for their future career. The study recommends that higher learning institutions should make it their deliberate point to plan well their fieldwork programmes and respond to students’ needs in order to create fieldwork educational experiences that will benefit their students and the organisations where the students are sent.