A Comparative Study on the Correlation between Academic Resilience and Students’ Engagement in Public and Private Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

This quantitative comparative study examined the similarities and differences between Academic Resilience (AR) and Student Engagement (SE) in public and private HEIs. The instruments used to collect data were the ARS-30 and Student Engagement Scale (SES). The population sample consisted of 295 undergraduate students from the social sciences department of private HEIs and 525 undergraduate students from the social sciences department of public HEIs in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The analysis revealed higher levels of AR and SE among undergraduate students from both public and private HEIs. Data analysis also showed a statistically significant high correlation between AR and SE among undergraduate students in public and private HEIs. The correlation between AR and SE was reported higher in private HEIs; r1 = 0.559** (p < 0.01) and r2 = 0.707 (p< 0.01). Findings show a positive relationship between AR and SE among undergraduate students from the social sciences departments in public and private HEIs. The research would be practically valuable for HEIs and stakeholders under the framework of self-regulatory learning by developing AR that may help increase their engagement level in a different learning environment from the annual setup to the semester setup.