عنوان مقاله [English]

Influential factors in students' academic success

چکیده [English]

Muhammad Hossein Poorkazemi(M.S.), Shahid Beheshti University

This study explains the meaning of academically successful students, investigates the relative importance of factors that influence the academic success, and stresses the impact of admissions policies on the quality of higher education to be received. The author argues that the most visible sign of academic success is the students' capability to continue their studies after the first degree. The author uses similar argument to extend the influence to the students' rating by the admissions examinations for graduate programmes. The higher the scores that students achieve at the nationwide competition, the more likely they are able to acquire advance academic knowledge. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate factors that influence academic success - scores which represent rank orderings through the nationwide testing for graduate programmes. It seems reasonable to predict that college grades should have a considerable impact on the success of students. However, the observed correlations between students' success and college grades are negative in the following fields: chemistry, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, physics, and mathematics. Multiple regression was used to control for the effects of the faculty members' standards, the students' achievements at the university entrance examination, and the final examination at the secondary level..In this research the grades achieved at the university entrance examination, and the final examination at the secondary level showed the highest partial correlations with students' success. Furthermore, findings of significant relationships between unive;rsity entrance examination scores, the final examination grades at the secondary level, and the scores achieved at the nationwide competition for graduate programmes provide further support for applying the entrance examinations as regulating mechanisms. The author concludes that success is more influenced by the students' characteristics on entry, than the quality of teaching received at college. Moreover, the importance of accepting the right candidates among the secondary graduates who are most likely to be successful in higher education is emphasized.