Millennials’ Expectations of Life at the University and the Workplace: A Malaysian Perspective

Abstract

This study examined the millennial’s expectations of life at the university and the workplace.
Questionnaire data were obtained from 142 students aged 20 to 24 in a Malaysian public
university from different disciplines. The results showed that most of the participants were
highly feedback oriented and expected instant face-to-face feedback from their lecturers,
particularly when in emails. They relied on lecture notes to understand the lectures, but would
also look for supplementary reading materials. They expected lecturers to deliver interesting
lectures but would attend boring lectures to comply with lecture attendance rules. The results
also suggest that many participants would not sacrifice their personal time to meet either
assignment or work deadlines because they expected deadline extensions. Although the
participants preferred positive comments, they also expected to be reprimanded for
unsatisfactory work performance. They also expected a fair amount of individual work
compared to group work at the workplace. The findings suggest that the participants
generally had realistic expectations of university and work life.