Student Unrest At University Campuses

Abstract

The present study was undertaken in order to investigate the constellation of the social, personal-psychological and environmental factors which could lead to student unrest. A sample of 200 male and 200 female post-graduate students from four major provincial universities of Pakistan was taken. The data was collected from Punjab University. Lahore, Baluchistan University. Quetta, Bahauddin Zakcyia University. Mullan and Peshawar University. Peshawar. The instruments used to assess different variables included the unrest scale containing 23 items pertaining to three variables of unrest i. e. , social, personalpsychological and environmental, a measure of importance of unrest variables and index of academic activities. The results ind icated that social factors such as political interference and support of the student organizations by political parties has made the university administration ineffective. The corruption in the society lead to uncertainty among students about their future which serves as fertile ground for creating and maintain ing unrest among them. It was found that the female students perceive more unrest at the campuses. It was also concluded that mostly the mal e students indulge in the pOlitical and non~academjc activities. The results also indicated that the more the students were involved in the academic pursuits the lesser were their chances to indulge in political and subversive activities at the campuses. It was also concluded that the sutdents from families with less educated fathers were more sens itive to unrest. The specific circumstances of a campus were also found important. Highest scores on the unrest scale were found at the Punjab University. LallOre. Findings show that student unrest is less frequent at the campuses where the administration is in control of campus affairs