- Title
- Factors relating to academic success in the first semester of the bachelor of pharmacy degree at NMMU
- Creator
- Nagel, Timothy Shaun
- Subject
- Pharmacy -- Study and teaching
- Subject
- College students -- South Africa Academic achievement
- Date Issued
- 2017
- Date
- 2017
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MPharm
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/14201
- Identifier
- vital:27446
- Description
- Student throughput rates and academic achievement at universities are a concern at a national level in South Africa. Statistics have shown that on average, only ±17% of students who enrolled at a university, managed to graduate. The aim of the study was to determine the factors pertaining to student achievement and success in the first semester of the first year Bachelor of Pharmacy degree at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. This study was a longitudinal, observational study which incorporated only quantitative aspects. Factors included in the investigation were: student motivation; learning styles; prior academic achievement; language use and sources of financial support. In order to determine student motivation, an Academic Motivation Scale (AMS) was used. Learning styles were assessed using a Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) tool. The student’s National Senior Certificate (NSC) results were compared to the students 2016 semester one final marks, to correlate student readiness and prior academic achievement with current academic achievement. Home language and sources of financial support were also evaluated using a purpose-designed questionnaire. Results showed that only the Life Sciences module was practically and statistically significant as a predictor of academic success, with a p-value of .001 and a correlation coefficient |r| value of .369. The minimum entry requirements for the BPharm Degree do not include Life Science, however, based on this study, inclusion of Life Sciences at a specific achievement level should be considered.
- Format
- xiii, 130 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Health Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
- Hits: 853
- Visitors: 914
- Downloads: 113
Collections
NMMU School of Medicinal Sciences
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Factors relating to academic success in the first semester of the bachelor of pharmacy degree at NMMU | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |