Perceptions of An- Najah National University Students Towards Democratic Practices of Faculty Members

This study sought to identify the perceptions of An-Najah National University students towards the democratic practices of faculty members in it. In addition, the study examined whether these students’ perceptions differed according to sex, college, place of living and cumulative average variables. To these two ends, the researcher developed a questionnaire and administered it to the sample. The 40-item questionnaire revolved around the students’ perceptions towards the democratic practices of the faculty members. The population of the study was all An-Najah National University (16,000 men and women students). A randomly chosen sample was drawn from the population. The total sample amounted to 800 students of both sexes. The study raised the following question and tested the following hypothesis. What are the perceptions of An-Najah National University students towards the democratic practices of the faculty members? There are no statistically significant differences at α =0.05 in the perceptions of An-Najah National University students towards the democratic practices of the faculty members which may be attributed to variables of sex, college, place of living, and cumulative average. After data collection and analysis it was found that the over all score of students’ perceptions of the democratic practices of faculty members was average. The percentage of response of the total score was 62.0%. It was also found that there were statistically significant differences at α =0.05 in the perceptions of students towards the democratic practices of faculty members in the domains of fairness and equality among students and method of teaching. The overall score, between males and females, was in favor of males. However, no statistically significant differences were found in the domains of freedom of expression, academic course which might be attributed to variable of sex. In addition, there were no statistically significant differences at α =0.05 in the overall score of students’ perceptions towards the democratic practices of faculty members between males and females in favor of males which might be attributed to college variable. However, there were statistically significant differences at α =0.05 in the score of the students’ perceptions of the faculty members’ democratic practices in the domains of equality and fairness between city students and village and refugee camp students in favor of city students. No statistically significant differences, however, were found in the domains of freedom of expression, academic course and method of teaching which might be attributed to the variable of place of living. Finally, there were statistically significant differences at α =0.05 in the score of students’ perceptions of faculty members’ democratic practices which might attributed to the cumulative average variable in favor of those who had very good and excellent students. In the light of these findings, the researcher recommends the following: ·Holding regular cultural and intellectual seminars for faculty members with the participation of both parties in the university to foster concepts of democratic life, values, and practices. ·Supporting and reinforcing student union practices and enhancing democratic values in the contexts and trends in these practices and working towards the purifying of the atmospheres of these practices from anti-democratic values. ·Fostering democratic principles and finding ways to achieve them on the university campus for teachers, students and administrative team. ·Conducting further studies on democratic practices and students’perceptions of these practices at other Palestinian universities.