University Students’ motivations Towards the Education System Learning and The Construction of Knowledge

Abstract

The main factors which affect university students' motivations towards the education institution and towards the formation of knowledge in them (analyzing the Spanish education system at state universities) have to do with crowded classrooms where it is almost impossible to have a personalized monitoring and to carry out debates in which all students can participate; with the fact that many students are part-time students and have different interests than those of full-time students; with the lack of motivation among professors who are trapped by the bureaucratic system, which does not promote excellence in teaching and research. Students are motivated when they learn and discover things by themselves than when someone else teaches them. In this sense, an open curriculum with an array of optional courses should in principle motivate students and a horizontal participatory structure is usually more motivating than a hierarchical one.