Interests of Sultan Qaboos University Students “A Comparative Study Based on Gender and Specialty Area”

Abstract

The present study aims at exploring the interests of the male and female Omani youth enrolled in Sultan Qaboos University, and the obstacles that hamper the fulfillment of these interests. The study sample consists of 562 students (127 males, and 435 females). 356 of the male and female students are enrolled in Humanities Colleges , while 206 male and female students are enrolled in the Science Colleges. The researchers developed a questionnaire to measure 7 categories of youth interests, including sports, literary interests, artistic, musical, scientific, community service, and recreational interests. By ranking the students’ interests, results for the whole sample show that the students’ interests were ranked as follows: recreational, literary, scientific, community service, artistic, sports, and musical interests. Regarding the gender differences, female students ranked higher in artistic interests. As for the differences between Humanities and Science Colleges, results show that literary interests and community service rank higher with students of humanities; whereas scientific interest ranks higher with students of Science Colleges. The results were discussed, and recommendations were proposed as to the proper ways of encouraging university students to develop and practice a variety of interests to make a better use of their leisure time.

Keywords

• Youth Interests, Omani Youth, Sultan Qaboos University