Factors Affecting Students' Academic Performance in Bhaktapur Community Colleges 2020 PDF

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349869875 Factors Affecting Students' Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District Article in International Research Journal of Management Science...

See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349869875 Factors Affecting Students' Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District Article in International Research Journal of Management Science · March 2021 DOI: 10.3126/irjms.v5i1.35859 CITATIONS READS 4 7,116 2 authors: Bal Ram Duwal Lalita Khonju Tribhuvan University Tribhuvan University 6 PUBLICATIONS 9 CITATIONS 1 PUBLICATION 4 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Bal Ram Duwal on 07 March 2021. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Received date : 18 Nov, 2020 International Research Journal of Management Science Revised date : 24 Dec, 2020 Print - ISSN 2542-2510 Accepted date : 26 Dec, 2020 E-ISSN 2717-4867 Published date : 31 Dec, 2020 Vol.5, Issue 1 -Dec 2020 http://www.ncm.edu.np Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District Balaram Duwal* and Lalita Khonju** Abstract 1,525 total number of undergraduate students from four high student enrolment community colleges of Bhaktapur district. Regression analysis was used to identify the impact of independent variables student’s performance across study year and guardian occupation, Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted. performance. However, it has been proved that gender, age, faculty, study year and guardian occupation Keywords: Academic performance, teaching method, study habits, attendance of students & community college students. Introduction Education is one of the fundamental infrastructures of development. Education is the privilege that a state must guarantee to its citizen. Education is kept as fundamental rights in the Constitution of Nepal. In Nepal, basic education is mandatory and the state has guaranteed the education up to the secondary level to be free. Government of Nepal is focusing education on the building of the nation (Ministry of Education, 2018). Bista & Gaulee (2018) claimed that the higher education sector played a critical role in supporting broad-based economic growth and social sector development in Nepal. As per record of University Grants Commission (2020) , a total of 11 universities, four health academies and 1432 higher education institutions are providing mainstream higher education in Nepal. Among them, 147 constituents (10.27 per cent) campuses, 747 private (52.16 per cent) and 538 community * Nepal. Corresponding email: [email protected], ** Student of Bagiswori College (Freelance researcher), Bhaktapur. She can be reached at [email protected] The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 managed by the stakeholders of the community with non-profit motive as per the rules and regulation of the concerned university. As being a pioneer higher education institution, Tribhuvan University (TU) has 529 community campuses, 61 constituent campuses and 551 private campuses, where a total of 335,543 students are studying in the year 2018/19. Among them, around 36 per cent of students are getting an education in community campuses of TU (University Grants Commission, 2020). The data shows that the community campuses of TU are bearing major responsibility of providing higher education in Nepal. It is noteworthy that the University Grant Commission has awarded altogether 49 campuses from Quality Assurance and Accreditation among them 34 are community campuses. Thus, it became essential to conduct this study focusing on the issue of students’ academic performance of community campuses of TU. In the present era of globalization and technological revolution, students’ academic performance is perceived to be of tremendous importance for the overall development of any nation. Students’ academic performance plays an enormous role in producing the best quality graduates who will become great manpower to lead a country towards economic and social growth. Therefore, the investigation of factors related to the academic performance of university students become a topic of growing interest in a higher educational circle. Students’ academic achievement is one of the major factors considered by employers in hiring workers especially for the fresh graduates (Mohamed et al., 2018). Students’ academic performance is the extent to which students, teachers or institutions have achieved their short or long-term educational goals. It is the performance level in examination and major modules. Measuring the academic performance of a student is a complex task as it cannot be easily quantified or measured in units. In most circumstances, students’ performance may be deemed to be a product of environmental, social, economic, psychological and personal factors. However, failure to recognize these factors may retard the educational system and lead to higher failure rates. Therefore, it is important to diagnose the factors that associate suboptimal academic performance to institutionalize the most reasonable remedy. The main concern of this research is related to the performance of students, which supports the colleges to achieve their goal of academic success. It is necessary to conduct this research to see the level of performance of students and to study different factors influencing the academic performance of community college students and enhance the quality of education. Thus, this study aims to investigate the factors affecting the students’ academic performance on community colleges in Bhaktapur district. Furthermore, this study explores whether there is a significant difference in students’ academic performance when their 24 Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 socio-economic characteristics such as age, gender, faculty, study year and guardians’ occupation are considered. Literature Review There is a considerable amount of research conducted on factors affecting the academic performance of students at different study levels. Dhakal (2020) explored the school-related factors, student-related factors, and parent-related factors which affect the students’ performance. However, Atchia and Chinapah (2019) have analysed socioeconomic factors, school leadership, student factor, teacher factor and private tuition factor which affecting academic achievement of secondary school students in Mauritius. They found all those factors had a positive effect on students’ academic achievement. Mushtaq and Khan (2012) found communication, learning facilities, proper guidance has a positive relationship with students performance whereas family stress has a negative relationship with it. Mahato (2018) study shows that curriculum activities, management, learning process and faculty factors contribute to students’ academic performance. He concluded that curriculum aspects, faculty characteristics, learning process and extra activities have a positive impact on overall students’ achievement in the Nepalese business environment. a) Students’ Performance Waples and Darayseh (2005) used indicators such as diploma GPA, financial accounting scores, management accounting scores and students GPA to predict students’ performance. Some others researchers used tests results or previous results since they are studying performance for the specific subject or year (Hijaz & Naqvi, 2006). However, in this study performance is considered as the qualitative factor, which is the result of teaching method applied in classroom, study habits of the students and attendance of students in class. Students’ performance is measured through academic achievements and their ability to achieving an academic goal. b) Teaching method Teaching method is taken to be the role played by the professor in the teaching process and technology used in the process. To facilitate the process of knowledge transmission, teachers apply appropriate teaching methods that best suit specific objectives and level exit outcomes. Smith et al., (2001) analysed the teaching method and its influence on student academic performance. They concluded that interactive teaching method associated a better gain in test scores in comparison to the didactic teaching method. Isa et al.(2020) indicated that the teaching methods used by teachers determine the extent to which students perform in their academic. They recommended student-centred method and teacher-student interactive method to improve students’ academic performance. Furthermore, Baradwaj and Pal (2011) Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District 25 The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 found that teaching methods work effectively if they suit learner’s needs since every learner interprets and responds to questions in a unique way. H1: There is a positive impact of teaching method on the academic performance of students. c) Study Habits Study habits contribute significantly to the development of knowledge and perceptual capacities. Study habits tell a person how much he will learn and how far he wants to go. These all could be decided with the help of one’s study habits. Middleton (1979) stated that the study habits of students may be relevant to the prediction of grades because student’s grades may be related to their study habits. That is, students with poor study habits may obtain lower grades than those students with better study habits. Similarly, Sheikh and Jahan (2012) stated that study habits are usually defined as the student’s ability to manage time and other resources to complete an academic task successfully. Issa et al.(2012) recommended that everyday reading activities in which students engage influence their study skills and subsequent academic performance. There is a general sense in which one appreciates the academic performance of students generally. It is concluded that study habits are correlated with academic performance/ achievement. H2: There is a positive impact of study habits on the academic performance of students. d) Attendance of Students Student’s class attendance and engagement plays an important role in contemporary higher education. The attendance is used in checking the daily commitment of students towards their class. It shows the number of time students attend the class. Roby (2003) in his study of attendance and achievement in Ohio schools believed the positive impact of good attendance on academic performance might be greater than people who have less class attendance. Similarly, Jones (2006) discovered a direct correlation between good attendance and student achievement. He further suggested that poor attendance has been linked to poor academic performance. Marburger (2010) claimed that the enforced mandatory attendance policy significantly reduces absenteeism and improves students’ exam performance. Similarly, Kassarnig et al.(2017) also found that early and consistent class attendance strongly correlates with academic performance. Thus, in this study, the students’ attendance was taken as dependent variables and explored its effect on students’ academic performance. H3: There is a positive impact of attendance of students on their academic performance. Besides teaching method, study habits and attendance of students, other variables also affect the academic performance of the students. Learning technique, home-related aspects, study habits and physical 26 Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 resources have a strong positive relationship with academic performance. Similarly, students with good academic performance have better learning techniques, home- related aspects, study habits and physical resource (Mohamed et al., 2018). Some researchers have also studied the effect of moderating variables on student’s academic performance. Regression results of academic performance of students have varied from faculty to faculty. The result also reveals that age, gender, past academic track, medium of education and absence in the classes have also influenced the academic performances of a student (Alam et al., 2014). Age, gender, year level, marital status, socio-economic status and previous school attended by the student nurses showed the varying extent of influence on their academic performance. A significant difference in the extent of effect gender has on the academic performance of student nurses. Whereas, no significant difference was observed on the extent of effect type of school attended had on the academic performance of the student nurses as indicated by age, year level, marital status, and socio-economic status (Alshammari et al., 2017). Conceptual framework Based on the literature review, in this study, a conceptual framework is developed to establish the impact of the teaching method, study habits, and attendance of students on students’ academic performance. The students’ socio-economic characteristics such as; gender, age, faculty, study year and guardian’s occupation are taken as moderating variables as explained by Alam et al., (2014) and Alshammari et al.(2017). Methodology Survey, descriptive and analytical research design was used to obtain predetermined objectives. The survey research design was used to collect the data from the respondents and it was used to assess opinions of students on their academic performance. The research has also employed a descriptive research design to explains the status of respondents. The research analytical because it investigated the factors affecting Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District 27 The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 the academic performance of students. It also analyzes the effect of moderating variables on academic performance of students. In Bhaktapur district, there are nine TU affiliated community colleges. Among them, four community colleges which have higher student enrolment are selected for this study. The entire undergraduate students (total 1525 students of management and education faculty) from four community colleges in Bhaktapur district is the population of the study. From the total population, 150 respondents were selected using a stratified sampling method. Table 1 Frequency table for Total Respondents Sample Note: University Grant Commission (2018) Primary data was used for this study. The structured questionnaires were used. 180 questionnaires were distributed out of which 150 filled-in questionnaires were returned. Mean, standard deviation, correlation, multivariate regression analysis, Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test were conducted using the Statistical Package for Social Science version 25. The survey has been conducted with a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. Part 1 is related to socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, whereas part 2 is on the factors that affect the academic performance of students. The questionnaire is composed of 21 items classified as teaching method factors, student habits factors, attendance of students factors and student academic performance factor. Five-point Likert scale has been used to measure 21 items ranging from “1” strongly disagree to “5” indicating strongly agree. For content validity and reliability, Cronbach’s alpha for each variable was calculated. Here, the reliability of overall items is 0.816 in Table 2 which means the result is very good. So, the instrument is considered to be reliable. Similarly, the reliability of every item is greater than 0.60, and it asserts that it is good for study. 28 Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 Table 2 Reliability Statistics Results Descriptive Analysis The mean of perceived student’s performance is 3.6560 and the standard deviation is 0.62995. Perceived study habit has 3.3833 mean value with standard deviation value of 0.56618 showing slightly agreed condition with the statement of study habits. Mean of perceived teaching method and perceived attendance of students are 3.7078 and 3.8750 which shows that respondents nearly agree that these variables affect students’ performance and standard deviation for these variables are 0.53649 and 0.67726. Table 4 Descriptive table of Overall Research Variables Research Variables M inimum M aximum M ean Std. Deviation PTM 2.17 5.00 3.7078. 53649 PSH 1.33 5.00 3.3833. 56618 PAOS 1.00 4.75 3.8750. 67726 PSP 1.40 5.00 3.6560. 62995 Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District 29 The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 Demographic Analysis Table 5 shows the frequency and percentage of different socio-economic characteristics of 150 respondents. Table 5 Descriptive table of Overall Research Variables Out of 150 respondents, 24.7% were male and 75.3% were female. As per the age of respondents, 25.3% of respondents were below 20 and 74.7% were between 20-30 years. 86% of respondents were from the management faculty and only 14% from education faculty. In terms of educational background, 19.3% of the respondents were from 1st year, 8.7% from 2nd year, 58% from 3rd year and 14% from 4th year. Similarly, 17.3% of respondents’ family are engaged in business, 29.3% in the job, 34.7% in agriculture and 18.7% in others. 30 Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 Correlation Analysis between Two Variables The study found that there is a low degree of a positive relationship between perceived teaching methodology and perceived student academic performance at (r=.378 and p=0.000). The findings indicated that there is a weak positive relationship between perceived students’ habit and perceived student academic performance at (r=.266 and p=0.001). The result displayed a moderate positive relationship between perceived student’s attendance and perceived student academic performance at (r=.497 and p=0.000). It shows that if students regularly attend classes, they will have good academic performance. Table 6 Correlation Analysis of Overall Variables **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Regression Analysis This study investigated factors affecting student academic performance from community college students at Bhaktapur district, Nepal. Three hypotheses were developed after reviewing the literature, to test the hypotheses the regression analysis was employed. Table 7 ANOVA Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District 31 The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 a. Dependent Variable: PSP F-statistics were carried out to find the overall strength of the model. The value of F-statistics 20.913 shows that the model is highly significant Coefficient Table 8 Coefficients Coefficient & Hypothesis Testing H1: There is a positive impact of teaching method on the academic performance of students. Based on the beta coefficient, the model shows that perceived teaching method causes 28% positive variation in students’ performance and t-value is also significant. So, the alternative hypothesis (H1) is accepted. This means there is a positive impact of teaching method on the academic performance of students. H2: There is a positive impact of study habits on the academic performance of students. Study habits of students cause 1.6% variation in students’ performance however t-value is not significant. So, the null hypothesis is retained. This means there is no impact on study habits on the academic performance of students. H3: There is a positive impact of attendance of students on academic performance of students. Attendance of students causes 38.4% variation in students’ performance and t-value is also significant. 32 Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 So, the alternative hypothesis (H3) is accepted. This means there is a positive impact of attendance of students on academic performance of students. Mann-Whitney U Test The Mann-Whitney U test is used to test for differences between two independent groups. Table 9 provides the mean rank given to each group on perceived student’s academic performance. Male perceived student’s academic performance rank mean is 71.30 while the mean rank given to female is 76.88. It means the perceived student’s academic performance for the female is slightly larger than those for male students. Likewise, perceived student’s academic performance for 20-30 age (mean rank=76.36) is slightly greater than those for below 20 age (mean rank=72.96). The study found that the perceived student’s academic performance for management faculty (mean rank =77.26) is greater than education faculty students (mean rank=64.69). Table 9 Mean Rank The Mann-Whitney U-test showed that there is no significant difference in perceived student’s performance between male and female students (U=1935, p=0.495). Similarly there is no significant difference in perceived students’ performance between age below 20 and above 20 students (U=2031.5, p=.675). The study shows that there is no significant differences in perceived student’s performance between management faculty and education faculty students (U=1127.5, p=.216). Table 10 Mann-Whitney U value Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District 33 The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 Kruskal Wallis Test Levene’s test suggests that there is a significant difference of 0.001 between the group variance, therefore, assumption of homogeneity of variance is violated and non-parametric Kruskal Wallis test which is a non-parametric alternative to the ANOVA test was conducted for analysis. Table 11 Test of Homogeneity of Variances PSP The table lists the mean ranks on perceived student’s performance for each year group and guardian occupation. Mean rank of a third-year student has highest i.e. 83.21 and lowest is 58.38 with second-year students. Furthermore, the students whose guardian occupation is business have the highest mean rank (90.65) followed by job and agriculture. Table 12 Mean Rank of Perceived Student’s Academic Performance 34 Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 A Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted to evaluate differences among the study year groups on perceived student’s performance. The test was not statistically significant (chi square=7.047, p=0.070), so retain the null hypothesis. It indicates that the distribution of perceived student’s performance is the same across categories of the study year. Table 13 Similarly, a Kruskal-Wallis test was conducted to evaluate differences among the guardian occupation on perceived student’s performance (table 13). The test was not statistically significant (chi square=4.859, p=0.182), so retain the null hypothesis. It indicates that the distribution of perceived student’s perception is the same across categories of guardian occupation. Discussion and Conclusion This study was carried out to investigate the major factors that affect student academic performance. This work was conducted to examine the impact of the teaching method, student’s habit and attendance of students. The study revealed a low degree of a positive relationship between perceived teaching methodology and perceived student academic performance at (r=.378 and p=0.000). The findings indicated that there is a weak positive relationship between perceived students’ habit and perceived student academic performance at (r=.266 and p=0.001). The result demonstrated a moderate positive relationship between perceived student’s attendance and perceived student academic performance at (r=.497 and p=0.000). It shows that if students regularly attend classes, they will have good academic performance, which is consistent with the result of (Kassarnig et al., 2017) and (Marburger, 2010). Further, the result shows that the teaching method has a significant positive impact on perceived student’s performance. It is consistent with the study made by Bharadwaj & Pal (2011) and Smith et.al. (2001). But student’s habit has not significant impact on perceived student’s performance which is contradict with Middleton (1979), and Issa et al. (2012) Ali, Abdulkadir, & Abdi (2018). Likewise, the result shows that the attendance of students has also significant positive impact on perceived student’s performancece which is similar with the findings of Roby (2004), and Jones (2006). Balaram Duwal and Lalita Khonju: Factors Affecting Students’ Academic Performance: The Case of Students at Community Colleges in Bhaktapur District 35 The International Research Journal of Management Science Vol. 5 No. 1 Decemb er 2020 | ISSN (P) 2542-2510 | ISSN (E) 2717-4867 Furthermore, it has been proved that gender, age, faculty, study year and guardian occupation do not have any differences on perceived student’s performance. This finding is contradicts with Alam et al. (2014) and Alshammari et al.(2017). Thus, it can be concluded that the undergraduate students’ academic performance is influenced by the teaching method and attendance of students. However, students habits do not have an impact on student’s performance. Likewise, the Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test result proved that the distribution of student’s performance is the same across categories of age, gender, faculty, study year and guardian occupation. Implications This finding is significant as it can be used by college administrators and teachers in designing and implementing the program towards the improvement of student’s academic performance among community colleges of Bhaktapur district, Nepal. In the study, teaching method and student’s attendance have a significant impact on student’s performance thus teacher need to give more attention to their teaching method to improve student’s performance. Student’s attendance plays important role in student’s performance therefore college should manage the necessary environment and policy to motivate students for higher attendance. The colleges should review their methods of teaching to improve students’ academic performance. Teachers and parents’ role is necessary to improve study habits of students. Limitations Even though the utmost effort has been made to prepare this paper, there are some limitations to the study. Students’ academic performance is affected by various environmental factors, socio-economic and psychological factors such as class size, class test results, family condition, age and gender differences, economic status of parents, etc. But this study considered only teaching method, study habits and attendance of students variables for the study. In this study, students’ academic performance was measured based on perceptions of students only. It can be done using scores and ranks in exams. The research was limited to the study of bachelors’ level students only. References Alam, M. M., Billah, M. A., & Alam, M. S. (2014). Factors affecting academic performance of undergraduate students At Uganda University. Journal of Education and Practice, 5(39), 143–155. Alshammari, F., Saguban, R., Pasay-an, E., Altheban, A., & Al-Shammari, L. (2017). Factors affecting the academic performance of student nurses: A cross-sectional study. 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