Internet Use among University Students: A Survey in Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a survey of the post graduate students of the Bharathidasan University, Tamil Nadu. The objective of the study is to explore the Internet use behavior of students. The results show that 232 users (58%) mentioned that they use Internet for preparing class assignments, 185 users (46.25%) use it for assistance in their research projects, 153 users (38.25%) pointed out that they use it to update their knowledge, 121 users (30.25%) use it for communication purposes, 96 users (24%) mentioned that they use it for entertainment, 86 users (21.50%) use it for the examination preparation, 57 users (14.25%) use it for reading news, 45 users (11.25%) mentioned that they use it to download software, 33 users (8.25%) use it for their specific purposes such as online job searching. The results of the study also show that 353 students (88.25%) mentioned that mostly they use Google for searching, 284 (71%) use Yahoo!, 84 (21%) use Alta Vista, 65 (16.25%) mentioned that they use MSN for searching information and 48 respondents (12%) revealed that they use Info-seek. The paper recommends that the university authorities should arrange training programs for the students Internet use.

Keywords: Internet, Students, User Studies, Search Engines, E-mail Services

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