PERCEPTION OF UNIVERSITY AND COLLEGE STUDENTS TOWARDS GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING SERVICES IN MALAWI

Transition to university and college life can be stressful for students. Guidance and counselling services is one of the helpful practices to inculcate moral development in students. This cross-sectional study, therefore, examined the perception of university and college students towards guidance and counselling services in Malawi. Specifically, the study addressed the following questions: What are the behaviour patterns shown by students that require guidance and counselling? What are the benefits of guidance and counselling services to university and college students? What are the challenges faced in guidance and counselling services at universities and colleges? and What are the strategies that can be employed to promote effective guidance and counselling services in universities and colleges? Data was collected using structured questionnaire. Simple random and proportional representation sampling techniques were used to select a sample size of 258 students from various universities and colleges. The chi-square test and simple percentage were used as statistical tools to analysed the data. The results indicate that the behaviour pattern shown by students that require guidance and counselling services significantly (X2=48.324; p<0.001) differed. The main behaviour patterns were stress (74.4%), depression (65.9%), and anxiety (63.9%). The other behaviour patterns identified includes: drug addiction (56.2%), loneliness (50.8%), sex related problems (44.6%), vandalism (36.5%), and suicide (33.3%). The study identified the following as importance of guidance and counselling services to university and college students: students acquire knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life (94.5%); students develop academically and behaviourally (92.6%); students identify their skills and set goals to succeed (91.9%); and students develop problem solving skills (89.6%). The study further revealed the following as the challenges faced in providing guidance and counselling services at universities and colleges: lack of specific time allocation, inadequate facilities, number of counselors is not proportional with number of students, and in other institutions there is no guidance and counselling services. The study revealed that the identified challenges can be overcome by the following strategies: counselors’ office must be accessible by all categories of students; there is a need for awareness creation; availability of appropriate facilities; and professional development trainings for counselors.