Understanding academic interest in engineering students: the interplay of identification, effort, support, and reward

Academic interest is a key motivational construct influencing students’ learning and engagement, yet its development within structured educational contexts remains underexplored. This qualitative study investigates how engineering students experience and make sense of academic interest. Semi-structured interviews with 55 undergraduate students were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings indicate that students recognise their interest through experiential cues such as competence, curiosity, voluntary engagement, and flow, while its development is shaped through effort, academic support, and perceived rewards. These dimensions interact in non-linear, context-dependent ways rather than following a predetermined sequence. To support interpretive grounding, peer discussion sessions were conducted with 63 students, which affirmed the relevance of the findings while highlighting variability in experiences. The study offers a configurational understanding of academic interest as emerging through multiple interacting pathways and contributes by foregrounding the role of interest identification. Implications are discussed for fostering meaningful engagement in engineering education.