Some Factors which contribute to poor academic achievement among undergraduatestudents at a tertiary institution
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Date
2012
Authors
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Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
Higher education institutions in South Africa report dismal student graduation rates as a norm.
The South African survey 2002-2003 revealed that South Africa has the highest number of
higher education students in sub-Saharan Africa, but that less than two students in every ten
actually graduate (Page, Loots & Toit, 2005). A similar trend is evident in American universities.
The Times Higher Education Supplement reported that one in every four students drops out in
the first year, and that only 54% of low income students actually graduate in six years (Marcus,
2004). There is a paucity of research on the determinants of academic success among
undergraduate students at South African universities, for the present study the researcher
intended to determine some factors which contribute to poor academic achievement among
undergraduate students at a tertiary institution, particularly at the University of Zululand.
This study used a qualitative methodology to identify the factors that contribute to students’ poor
academic performance. Ten students of the University of Zululand took part in the study. A
semi-structured interview was used with each participant to collect rich and reliable data and
content analysis was employed for data analysis purposes. The findings indicated that most
participants were affected by external factors as compared to their internal locus of control.
Some of the factors that were found to be negatively related to academic achievement are:
Financial difficulties, enrolment, political affiliation, and unavailability of lecturers to students.
However, help-seeking has been shown to have positive impact on students’ performance. The
study concluded with suggestions for practice and for further research. Further research on
students’ performance could be conducted on a larger scale to obtain better results.
Description
A dissertation submitted in the Faculty of Education in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for a Masters degree in Educational Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2012.
Keywords
Academic Achievement -- tertiary insitutions