Promoting Morals and Ethics among University Students in the 21st Century

Main Article Content

Parichart Theerawit

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to (1) investigate the process of morals and ethics development in tertiary education administration for human resource development in the 21st century, (2) compare the effectiveness of morals and ethics development among university students, and (3) suggest plausible approaches to promoting morals and ethics among university students in the 21st century. Quantitative data were collected using multi-stage sampling from 400 students from 22 universities in semester 2/2016. Qualitative data were gathered through focus groups using purposive sampling to select 30 students from 5 universities. The research instruments comprised a rating scale questionnaire and a focus group questionnaire. Data were analyzed to calculate percentages, mean, standard deviation through content analysis, one-way ANOVA, and LSD.           


The results indicated that the overall university students’ moral and ethical behavior was at a high level (\inline \bar{X} =4.01, S.D.=.146). When comparing the different aspects of student behavior, ‘Honesty’ was found to be the highest (\inline \bar{X} =4.33, S.D.=314). The second was ‘Self-Discipline’ (\inline \bar{X} =4.21, S.D.=.281). The third was ‘Patience’ (\inline \bar{X} =4.13, S.D.=.290), and the least was ‘Economy’ (\inline \bar{X} = 3.73, S.D.=.301). The overall morals and ethics development among university students was at the high level (\inline \bar{X} =4.07, S.D. =.195). When classified by aspect, ‘Research’ was found to be the highest (\inline \bar{X} =4.42, S.D.=.305). The second was ‘Student Development Affairs’ (\inline \bar{X} =4.24, S.D.=.279). The third was ‘Academic Services to Society’ (\inline \bar{X} =4.11, S.D.=.281). The fourth was ‘Preserving and Learning Thai Culture’ (\inline \bar{X} = 3.91, S.D.=.382), and the least was ‘Economy’ (\inline \bar{X} =3.65, S.D.=.361). The overall effectiveness of morals and ethics development among university students compared by gender, age, year of study, parents’ occupation, parents’ education level, parents’ income, and the number of times that they participated in morals and ethics promotion activities, revealed no difference. Two suggestions were made for promoting morals and ethics among university students in the 21st century: (1) keys to morals and ethics development and (2) ways to embed morals and ethics.

Article Details

How to Cite
Theerawit, P. . (2018). Promoting Morals and Ethics among University Students in the 21st Century. JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN TECHNOLOGY, 11(1), 31–39. Retrieved from https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/journal_sct/article/view/84814
Section
Research Manuscript

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