The relationship between a selection battery and the academic performance of students on an MBA programme

Abstract

The study is a quantitative analysis into the selection process of the Masters in Business Administration (MBA) programme at the Tshwane University Technology (TUT). The selection battery used at TUT to select the MBA applicants is comprised of the Situation Specific Evaluation Expert (SpEEx), the English Literacy Skills Assessment (ELSA), and the 15 Factor Questionnaire (15FQ+). This test battery aims to obtain information on an applicant with regards to his/her cognitive potential (verbal and non-verbal ability), language proficiency, and personality. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the selection battery and the academic performance of those students selected into the MBA programme at TUT by examining the differences between the scores of the psychometric selection batteries and the academic performance of those students selected. Upon analyses and interpretation of the data it was determined that there were no statistically significant differences between the scores of the different components of the selection batteries used and the academic performance of those selected.