A comparison of graduate university perspectives of online versus face-to-face during the pandemic

Purpose This study aims to compare graduate student perspectives of online versus face-to-face (FTF) education during the pandemic at two different universities. One university, the “International University”, was physically located in Korea but served an international base of students, and the other was a Jesuit, Catholic University in the USA. Design/methodology/approach An online Qualtrics survey was used to gather student perceptions on a five-point Likert scale on individual and program factors. Chi-square analysis using the contingency coefficient as the nominal value was performed to uncover significant differences. Findings Significant differences between the two groups existed on motivation, discipline, self-directed, independence, cost investment, preference, happiness, difficulty, student-to-student interaction and student-to-instructor interaction. This research has implications for instructors and administrators in identifying shortcomings and highlighting the uniqueness of different practices around the world. Originality/value Previous studies on student perceptions have been performed. However, this study is original in the fact that it directly compares two different graduate student populations perspectives of online versus FTF during the pandemic.