Access to postgraduate programmes is a significant challenge across many countries, such as is the case of Ecuador, which is indeed negatively affected by different crisis situations, for example, political crisis, lack of public support and skyrocketing tuition costs. Most postgraduate students, particularly those who have full-time jobs, do not have the opportunity to pursue a regular postgraduate programme due to the graduate programme schedules are incompatible with their work-time. Thus, to overcome this challenge, Ecuadorian Universities have created evening and weekend programmes to suit the higher education needs of students who work.

In this context, and after the increasing virtual education because of the Covid-19 crisis, an growing number of online master’s programmes have appeared, offered at lower prices, which have gained relevance among this student’s segment. However, there is limited information regarding the factors that influence the perceived effort by students (self-perceived) for pursuing an online master's programme. Thus, this study aims to analyse the potential factors that condition the students’ self-perception of effort in online postgraduate programmes. Therefore, the objective of this study is threefold. First, to find out the motivational factors in students' online learning, whether this is for personal knowledge (personal development and growth) or for career progression (professional development, mostly due to the requirements of the jobs) or both. This is because nowadays, having a postgraduate degree is almost a requirement to advance their career and will often score points in a job application. Second, to explore other factors that may play a role in students’ perception related to programme conditions, such as programme schedule, learning capacity, and ergonomic learning circumstances. Third, to analyse other predictive variables, such as the attributes of the programme and teamwork. To this end, 183 questionnaires of students who studied an online master’s programme were analysed. An exploratory factor analysis using principal components and varimax rotation was conducted to test the factors determining self-perceived effort among postgraduate students.

The preliminary findings of this study provide evidence that the factors determining a better self-evaluation of effort in postgraduate programmes for students in Ecuador are driven mainly by job requirements, teamwork, programme schedule, and the attributes of the programme itself.

Furthermore, the results of this study open up the debate regarding the desire to pursue an online postgraduate degree due to job requirements, as opposed to a genuine desire for knowledge and personal development. It also shows how programme schedule, programme attributes, and teamwork take precedence over ergonomics, learning capacity, and work experience. The importance of work demands and collaborative work in generating a favourable perception of student self-assessment in virtual classes is highlighted.

Keywords: Self-perceived effort, study motivations, online postgraduate degree.