scholarly journals Traits versus Grades—The Incremental Predictive Power of Positive Psychological Factors over Pre-Enrollment Achievement Measures on Academic Performance

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1744
Author(s):  
Beatrix Séllei ◽  
Nóra Stumphauser ◽  
Roland Molontay

Understanding what (and to what extent) psychological factors affect university performance has attracted a lot of research interest recently. In this paper, we use logistic regression models to study the incremental predictive power of positive psychological factors over pre-enrollment achievement measures on academic performance. The study is based on the data of 302 business and economics undergraduate students from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. Coping proved to be the most important factor that sheds light on the importance of stress management for students. We also found that using properly chosen psychological factors measuring coping, personality traits, psychological immune system, emotional intelligence, and PERMA (P—positive emotion, E—engagement, R—relationships, M—meaning, A—accomplishments) factors, together with the university entrance score and academic performance can be predicted significantly better than solely relying on pre-enrollment achievement measures.

Author(s):  
TMGP Duarte ◽  
AM Lopes ◽  
LFM da Silva

Understanding how the academic performance of first year undergraduate students is influenced by home, personal and institutional factors is fundamental to delineate policies able to mitigate failure. This paper investigates possible correlations between the academic performance of students at the end of high school with their achievements at the end of first year university. Data for students in the Integrated Master in Mechanical Engineering (MIEM) program within the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto are analysed for the period 2016/2017 to 2019/2020. The students’ performance is measured by two metrics and the students are structured as a whole and by groups, according to their gender (Male/Female), type of secondary school (Public/Private), living place (Away/Home) and the rank of MIEM in their application list of options (Option 1/Option 2–6). The information is organized statistically and possible correlations between the data are investigated. The analysis reveals limited correlation between the two metrics, meaning that all students may exhibit good or poor results at the end of first year in MIEM, independent of their status at entrance. An unanticipated pattern is exhibited for the group Option 2–6, since it shows that, despite entering into MIEM without top application marks, the students in this group can perform as well as the others. This behavior is consistent over time.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7965
Author(s):  
Hong Zhang ◽  
Wilson Osafo Apeanti ◽  
Paul Georgescu ◽  
Prince Harvim ◽  
Dianchen Lu ◽  
...  

We examine the effectiveness and sustainability of the distance teacher education program established by the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana, by investigating the differences in the academic performance of students who are trained in the teacher education program via traditional and distance education modes, respectively, from 2011 to 2015. Close attention is paid to the factors that affect the academic performance of students in the distance mode. Our findings confirm that traditional mode students perform better than their distance mode counterparts in terms of cumulative GPAs. Gender and economic demographics of distance study centers are found to affect the academic performance of distance education students significantly. The policy implications of these findings are discussed and directions of further action are outlined.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 28-40
Author(s):  
Rosalina Pisco Costa ◽  
Carlos Vieira ◽  
Isabel Vieira

AbstractTransition to university is a challenging phase in youngsters’ lives. The literature indicates that geographical distance separating the places of study and of family residence adds to the difficulties of transition and adjustment to university. Recent evidence suggests that it also negatively impacts students’ grades. Despite important work done by economists, geographers and psychologists, sociology has devoted scarce interest in understanding this topic. This article seeks to bridge this gap, specifically exploring the reasons justifying the largely ignored effect of distance between the university and family home in academic performance. The study draws on data on undergraduate students of a Portuguese public university, collected through an online survey. Two dimensions, one more related to practical life occupations and another more linked to personal feelings and activities, are examined. It is argued that the negative impact of distance is mainly due to homesickness and to the time spent traveling home. Results from such analysis are twofold socially relevant: of the utmost importance for families, academics and students’ support services, deserve to be seriously considered by policy makers deciding on the territorial distribution of higher-education institutions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (18) ◽  
Author(s):  
André Braz Golgher

This paper analyses associations between performance on the entrance exams and subsequent academic performance at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Results clearly indicate that minority students catch up with other students while attending the university. For those who entered this institution in 2009, when the first stage of the selection process was UFMG´s own exam, the Portuguese, Mathematics, and Science exams had a larger predictive power, while the humanities and foreign language exams showed non-significant results or played smaller roles in predicting GPA outcomes. For those who were selected in the entrance exam of 2012, when the National Exam of the Secondary Level (ENEM) was used as the first stage of the selection process, all four exams (Language, Mathematics, Humanities, and Science) showed positive and significant results. In addition, the second stage of UFMG´s exam had a greater predictive power when ENEM was used as the first stage of the selection process.


1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norma E. Sorenson ◽  
James R. Jackson

As undergraduate students, most applicants to medical schools have majored in a natural science area. This study compared rates of acceptance and medical school academic performance of science and nonscience majors applying to 13 classes of The University of Alabama School of Medicine. There was no significant difference in acceptance rates between the two types of majors. Upon matriculation, medical students with nonscience majors performed as well as those with science majors on most standard measures of medical school academic performance.


Author(s):  
David Ngwoke Mbazor

Abstract The management of federal universities in Nigeria has not taken the issue of students’ housing provision as a priority. Hence, demand for on-campus housing accommodations far exceeds the supply and this resulted in the majority of the students living in private residences characterised by poor facilities. This study, therefore, assessed the housing quality and facilities in the undergraduate student’s hostels at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria to investigate its suitability for learning and research. A simple random sampling technique was used for the study. Data were collated from both primary and secondary sources. The data collected were analysed using frequency tables and weighted mean scores for estimating the Housing Quality Indices (HQI) according to a 5-point Likert scale. The academic performance of the occupants before and after moving to the university hostel was equally investigated using a regression analysis to test if a relationship exists among the housing quality, the quality of facilities provided and the academic performances of the students. The result revealed a positive relationship between the academic performance of the students and the quality of housing facilities. A comprehensive maintenance programme of the students’ accommodation within the university campus is recommended for higher academic performance. The study contributes to the body of knowledge in academic performance of students, developing and managing students’ accommodation quality at higher education institutions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-139
Author(s):  
S Akuma ◽  
H Abakpa

Students’ academic performance in the university environment changes from one academic year to another as they climb up the ladder of their academic programme. Predicting students’ academic performance in higher educational institutions is challenging due to the lack of a central database of students’ performance records. The other challenge is the lack of standard methods for predicting students’ performance and other moderating factors like physical, economic and health that affect students’ progress. In this work, we predicted students’ performance based on previous academic results. A model to predict students’ performance based on their Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) was developed using Linear Regression Algorithm. A dataset of 70 undergraduate students studying Computer Science was analyzed and the results show that the model was able to predict the 4th year CGPA of the Students using the previous Cumulative Grade Point of the past three years with an accuracy of 87.84%, and a correlation of 0.9338. This study also identified students’ second semester CGPA in the first year and their first semester CGPA in the second year as the most important CGPAs that affect the accuracy


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