Identifying higher education students at risk : grade 12 results

Abstract

Due to limited space and the fact that only a few learners can be admitted, higher educational institutions need to identify learners that will be able to complete the academic programs available at the higher education institution and identify students that are at risk of dropping out or failing. Higher education institutions therefore, make use of admission criteria to identify the learners who have the ability to complete the qualification enrolled for and the students that are at risk of not completing the program. These risk factors, predetermined by higher education institutions vary and even the means of measuring the risk differ. As a result a learner might be admitted for a specific academic program and be at high risk of not completing the program registered for. The main empirical objective of this study was to determine whether there was a difference on higher education success due to OBE. The secondary aim was to investigate broad trends on differences between the respondents with regards to the province they matriculated in, whether they receive instruction in their home language and their gender. The research paradigm was identified as post-positivist paradigm, quantitative research, Ex post facto research which utilised secondary data sets. The correlation analysis indicated a significant relationship between Grade 12 results and academic success on a higher education level. The analysis of variance identified province, home language instruction and Grade 12 results as significant predictors of academic success at higher education level. The analysis of variance also identified significant differences between the different provinces and between students that receive home language instruction and those that do not receive home language instruction.