ISSN 2360-7963
Abstract
Accepted 2nd June, 2014
Career goal setting plays a crucial role in one’s educational success. In Cambodia, while studying at primary and secondary education levels, a career goal setting does not appear to be very important for many students and parents. Some parents encourage their children to think of their career goals or ask them what they want to do in the future from a very young age, while some others never ask or care about this. Even though the career goals are more likely within the children’s own thought, some students change their mind after they learn more about the real world when they grow up. Some learners may need to be well-guided by some elders and schools to set up their career goals. This study attempts to find out whether there is a relationship between the career goals of university students and their achievement. The quantitative method was applied, and a questionnaire technique was used as a tool to collect data from one hundred and twenty respondents who were students of year two, year three and year four of the undergraduate programs at Pannasastra University of Cambodia. The research findings show that the students who came to the university with the occupational goals tended to perform better and achieved higher grades (M=3.41) than those who did not have the occupational goals (M=3.14). In year two, the students who had the occupational goals (M=3.70) keep leading those who did not have the occupational goals (M=2.82). The students who did not have the occupation goals when they were in year one achieved lower GPA compared to their own GPA of year two when they had thought of their own occupational goals. Having the occupational goals when entering the university absolutely motivates students to perform well and achieve better grades in the end. Therefore, children and students should be encouraged to set up their own career goals which would be a safe guard for ensuring their academic success.
Keywords: occupational goals, relationship, students’ grades