M. Ed. (Tertiary Didactics) / This study is part of a more extensive research project undertaken by a number of M.Ed.-students. The Bureau for University Education at the Rand Afrikaans University has accepted the question of the development of selection mechanisms with a view to accepting students for a university course as part of its assignment. The problem concerning a selection process for students can have dire repercussions, not only for those students who fail as a result of inadequate or erroneous selection, but also for the university as well as for the community. Individual members of the research team have devoted their attention to the evaluation of the existing selection criterium currently being implemented in order to select first-year students for further study in the various faculties. The objective of this research effort is particularly to determine whether the current selection programme, according to which first year students are selected for the Faculty of Education, is effective. An extensive literature study on existing selection procedures at universities abroad as well as at South African universities has been undertaken. At South African universities, and in particular at the Rand Afrikaans University, a variation of the Swedish Formula, the M-Score, is used as a selection mechanism. This M-Score has also been used as the research instrument in this research study. The M-Score comprises the allocation of different numerical values to the symbols attained in matriculation subjects, The research group consisted of full-time first-year students who registered at the RAU in the Faculty of Education for the degrees or diploma B.Prim.Ed., B.Cur., and H.E.D. in 1990. During the empirical research a cross-reference table on which the entire research group's final results of each first-year subject was entered in· certain intervals opposite the student's various M-Scores, was compiled. Likewise a crossreference table for each different field of study was compiled, in order to compare each field of study with the findings of the total research group. An additional table containing the frequencies, cumulative frequencies, and the percentages of both the successful as well as the unsuccessful courses as regards the total research group, has also been compiled. The percentage of successful courses per M-Score for the total research group has also been graphically indicated.

M.Ed. (Tertiary Didactics) / Every year research reports give the statistics of the number of examination failures and passes among university students. These reports focus the attention on a distressing problem, namely the large percentage of first-year students who either drop their studies or fail. This problem is to a great extent caused by students who are not adequately equipped for university studies or because the matric examination results did not accurately reflect the student's academic potential. Several economic, social and political factors could possibly also contribute to students failing or terminating their studies. The results of the problem causes great impact and implications. They form part of a vicious circle: the student is influenced negatively since there is doubt about his abilities and his self-image also faces a severe blow; the student's parents, who already have many financial responsibilities, as well as the community, are also influenced since taxpayer's money is being used to finance tertiary education. The problem of the high number of first-year students who fail has therefore to be solved because of the negative implications involved. A possible solution might be that universities should submit all prospective students to severe selection, in order to advise potentially unsuccessful students timeously or to point them in other directions. Only potentially successful students should be allowed to enter first-year studies. Suitable selection mechanisms would not only benefit the student, but would also have favourable financial implications for parents and the government. This study forms part of a team research project aimed at evaluating specifically the. selection mechanism of each faculty at Rand Afrikaans University, in order to determine the extent of the success achieved with the application of the said selection mechanism. The specific purpose of this study is to describe and evaluate the selection mechanism currently applied by the Faculty of Law at the Rand Afrikaans university. The study required a literature research in order to investigate the factors influencing the performance of first-year students. The Bureau for University Education made available data, information and material for this study. This investigation concerned only 1990 full-time first-year B.Proc students at the Rand Afrikaans University. The research instrument used is known as the "M-Score". This "instrument" awards a numeric value to the various symbols obtained in the different Subjects in the std. 10 final examination. The different values are added together to give one numeric value, the so-called "M-Score". The "M-Score" may vary between 3 and 30 as a result of the symbols obtained in the final examination.