Time passed and how much time is left? a study on motivation to graduate on time (GOT)

To date, there has been a growing global concern for research to take a closer look at the issue of low graduation rate, failed to graduate on time (GOT), and delays in the completion of doctoral research with respect to PhD education. However, the ability of PhD students to finish their studies within the GOT timeframe has become a constraint and issue for students, lecturers, supervisors, professors, schools, and universities. The low GOT rate can be an indicative of poor university’s performance consequently it will give bad impact to the university's key performance indicators (KPI), academic reputation hence affects the university’s ranking. Hence, Motivation Theory is used to guide the study. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the PhD students’ motivation to GOT and how these are influenced by institutional support, supervision, and student factors. Furthermore, this study can assist the universities to improve and provide the parameter to influence PhD students' ability to acquire GOT in the near future. Hopefully, the findings pinpoint useful discussion to improve and boost the quality of higher education in Malaysia.