Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Tourism and Hospitality Management in the Faculty of Business at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012 / In the light of the growing hospitality industry on one hand, and the limited space available at hospitality training institutions on the other, hotel schools are faced with the challenge of being able to identify students who will most likely be able to complete their courses and thus serve the industry. The practical element of hospitality studies is a defining characteristic that differentiates the subject from other business and management courses. Hotel schools therefore are required to be able to select students that are able to cope with the academic and practical requirements of hospitality courses. This research focused on analysing the current selection practices used by hospitality training institutions when selecting entry level students. The purpose was to identify success predictors and thus formulate an effective selection programme that incorporates the student‟s academic and vocational skills in order to reduce the student drop-out rate and increase the number of graduates entering the job market. The target population used for this research was hospitality management students. The criteria used were hospitality management students enrolled for courses with a qualification that is in accordance with NQF level 6 in Cape Town. The two schools that were used as the sample for this study were the IHS (International Hotel School) and the CTHS (Cape Town Hotel School), as they were found to be the only two schools that fit the criteria. The purposive sampling method was used in the form of semi-structured interviews that were conducted with the four academics involved in the student selection process at both institutions. Questionnaires were sent out to students and hospitality industry professionals to be completed. Information was also derived from the IHS and CTHS‟s data-bases to determine what the drop-out rates were at each institution. The findings revealed that the student drop-out rate was up to a significant 30%. A number of students were not well informed of the nature of the hospitality industry and the career path to which it lead when applying to study courses in hospitality. The findings also revealed that each school used different assessment criteria during the selection process. The selection process ranged from being a purely academic exercise to being a very extensive interview and assessment programme that tested both academic and vocational skills. Realising that it is vital to determine industry fit, the researcher made recommendations on tools that could be used during the selection process that would allow access to as many students as possible without resulting in a high drop-out rate. Utilising effective selection tools in the student selection process not only ensures a steady flow of suitable candidates, but also will ensure efficient hospitality professionals in the future to continuously supply the growing hospitality and tourism industry.

The fallibility of human judgment in the making of decisions requires the use of tests to enhance decision-making processes. Although testing is surrounded with issues of bias and fairness, it remains the best means of facilitating decisions over more subjective alternatives. As a country in transition, all facets of South African society are being transformed. The changes taking place within the tertiary education system to redress the legacy of Apartheid, coincide with an international trend of transforming higher education. One important area that is being transformed relates to university entrance requirements and admissions procedures. In South Africa, these were traditionally based on matriculation performance, which has been found to be a more variable predictor of academic success for historically disadvantaged students. Alternative or revised admissions procedures have been implemented at universities throughout the country, in conjunction with academic development programmes. However, it is argued in this dissertation that a paradigm shift is necessary to conceptualise admissions and placement assessment in a developmentally oriented way. Furthermore, it is motivated that it is important to keep abreast of advances in theory, such as item response theory (IRT) and technology, such as computerized adaptive testing (CAT), in test development to enhance the effectiveness of selecting and placing learners in tertiary programmes. This study focuses on investigating the use of the Accuplacer Computerized Placement Tests (CPTs), an adaptive test battery that was developed in the USA, to facilitate unbiased and fair admissions, placement and development decisions in the transforming South African context. The battery has been implemented at a university in the Eastern Cape and its usefulness was investigated for 193 participants, divided into two groups of degree programmes, depending on whether or not admission to the degree required mathematics as a matriculation subject. Mathematics based degree programme learners (n = 125) wrote three and non-mathematics based degree programme learners (n = 68) wrote two tests of the Accuplacer test battery. Correlations were computed between the Accuplacer scores and matriculation performance, and between the Accuplacer scores, matriculation performance and academic results. All yielded significant positive relationships excepting for the one subtest of the Accuplacer with academic performance for the non-mathematics based degree group. Multiple correlations for both groups indicated that the Accuplacer scores and matriculation results contribute unique information about academic performance. Cluster analysis for both groups yielded three underlying patterns of performance in the data sets. An attempt was made to validate the cluster groups internally through a MANOVA and single-factor ANOVAs. It was found that Accuplacer subtests and matriculation results do discriminate to an extent among clusters of learners in both groups of degree programmes investigated. Clusters were described in terms of demographic information and it was determined that the factors of culture and home language and how they relate to cluster group membership need further investigation. The main suggestion flowing from these findings is that an attempt be made to confirm the results with a larger sample size and for different cultural and language groups.

This study is concerned with the problem of measuring, describing, and analyzing the academic performance and progress toward graduation over a five-year period (1977- 1983) of students who entered a large public university through an admissions review committee process for presumptive-deny students. The purpose of this study is to compare the academic performance of these students (N = 310) with that of randomly selected students who entered through the regular admissions process (N = 350) to determine if the review committee's decisions were as effective in selecting students for admission as were the objective data (college entrance examination scores and rank in high school class) used in the regular admissions process. Neither transfer nor non-United States citizens were included in either group.

Thesis: B.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1975 / Bibliography: leaf [66]. / by Daniel E. Breen. / B.S. / B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

No description available.

The International Extension Program Online Registration System (IEPORS) allows prospective international students to apply over the Web to the programs offered through the International Extension Program of the College of Extended Learning. The system is comprised of two separate systems: a web application and a desktop application. In this project, Hibernate technique is used to reduce code size and system architecture. Security schema was also modified to be simple and solidly secure. All the private information could be interceped on the Internet are protected by SSL (secure Sockets Layer).

The problem of this study is concerned with the relationships between selected requirements for admission to elementary teacher education and teaching performance. The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the relationships between teaching performance, as evaluated by a principal, and five selected admission criteria (the GPA at the time of admittance to teacher education; achievement test scores in reading, language, mathematics; and instructor appraisal of the student during the first education course); (2) to determine whether or not the five selected admission criteria used singly, or in some combination, predict success in teaching performance.

Despite the fact acceleration has been studied thoroughly as an educational practice for the gifted, early entrance to college specifically has been overlooked. Not only this, but a large portion of this research pertains to early college entrance programs, which provide resources that many early college entrants may not have. The lived experiences and perceptions of radically early college entrants (three or more years advanced) were explored through interviews and heuristic inquiry. The interviews addressed affective aspects of early college foremost, with additional discussion of academic experiences, college choice, and career outcomes. Findings support that radically early college entrants are happy with their choice overall, though more specific findings elaborate on the benefits and limitations of early college, possible regrets, and the social issues this population faces.

The National Council for Accrediting of Teacher Education (NCATE) revised its standards in 1986. Included in this revision was a new entrance criterion for teacher education units: a 2.5 grade point average (GPA). Research indicated that GPA was not a good measure of aptitude or achievement when it was used to compare students. The large error variance involved in using GPA as a measure of aptitude could eliminate many capable teacher candidates. The researcher determined to create a system which would identify students who would not be likely to achieve the 2.5 GPA and which would also suggest methods for motivated students to increase their chances of achieving the 2.5 GPA. A sample was identified: industry and technology students at Millersville University who were sophomores from the fall of 1981 to the fall of 1986. This sample was randomly divided into two groups for the purpose of cross-validation. Multiple regression was used for both the overall group and the two subgroups to create equations which predicted sophomore GPA, using the following independent variables: SAT scores, high school rank, age, sex, race and human social capital. Students who were over 23 years old when they entered the program were eliminated from the study because SAT scores or high school ranks were not available for most of them. Predictors with a significance level of 0.05 had the following squared correlations to sophomore GPA: 1) high school rank: 0.2098, 2) SAT-math: 0.1960, 3) SAT-verbal: 0.1385, 4) special entrance: 0.0566, 5) admission age: 0.0298. Predictors which remained significant when loaded into a multiple prediction equation are listed in order of predictive power with their incremental squared correlation coefficients: 1) high school class rank: 0.2098, 2) SAT-math: 0.0969, 3)admission age: 0.0421, 4) SAT- verbal: 0.0188. The total squared multiple correlation coefficient for the prediction equation was 0.3676. The equation correctly predicted 71.4% of the admission decisions (based on a 2.5 sophomore GPA). Double cross-validation resulted in an average acceptance prediction accuracy of 72.2%. The prediction equation reduced the error of prediction and was recommended for use. / Ph. D.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education