Student's Perceptions on the Implementation of the Final Year Research Project: A Case Study

The final year project dissertation is offered to the final year students, aims to train the students to undertake a self-learning process with closed supervision on an extended or new topic in mathematical sciences area. Perceptions of the students on different parameters, such as the length of course offered, number of units, scope of research to be conducted, proposed supervisor, and modus operandi are investigated and evaluated. A survey was conducted on 136 final year students from Mathematics, Actuarial Science and Statistics programmes. Results show that more than 50% of the respondents agreed that the number of units and course duration offered are sufficient. Majority agreed that the scopes of research to be conducted and supervisors are to be determined by students. On the modus operandi of the course, different perceptions are obtained. In summary, the research found that there are rooms for enhancement of the quality of final year research projects.