Abstract

The article was an attempt to unravel the assorted sentiments of Great Zimbabwe University students regarding higher education as a vehicle for upward social mobility. The researchers became enthusiastic to undertake this study after detecting a steady increase in the number of students enrolling for higher education amid a diversity of militating variables. A sample of 50 students comprising 20 males and 30 females was selected using the stratified random sampling method. The phenomenological research design was used and data was gathered using questionnaires, individual interviews and focus group discussions. Psychological theories of Maslow, Herzberg and Erikson were crucial in interpreting the findings. The study revealed that the students strongly believed that higher education provides a gateway to a financially stable social life, albeit the expenses to be incurred. The researchers also established that some students pursued higher education for other reasons apart from financial and social benefits. The researchers recommended, among other things, that interested researchers should conduct allied longitudinal research studies in which cohorts of respondents are monitored over a long period of time in a bid to establish the extent to which attaining higher education guarantees vertical social mobility.

Key words: Vertical social mobility, hygiene factors, satisfiers, generativity versus stagnation, diploma disease phenomenon, self-actualisation, Great Zimbabwe University.