Institutions of higher learning are currently faced with the crisis of finding appropriate
criteria for undergraduate admission. This concern has been sparked by the fact that
matriculation grades are no longer seen as an accurate reflection of students'
academic potential. As tertiary education is becoming more expensive, it is therefore
becoming more and more important to select only students who have a realistic
chance of being successful in their studies.
The main aim of this study is to validate the Situation Specific Evaluation Expert
(SPEEX) as a predictor of academic success of first year students of Mechanical
Engineering at the Vaal Triangle Technikon.
The design used in this study is a non-experimental correlational design. This design
was selected because the investigation of this study is aimed at determining the
presence or absence of the relationship between the independent and dependent
variables without specific reference to causality.
The sample of this study consisted of a total of 140 mechanical engineering student
at the Vaal Triangle Technikon. This sample was the total number of students from
the Mechanical Engineering department who enrolled for mechanical engineering
courses for the year 2000. The sample consisted of 94% males and females 6%
females.
Subject matter experts from industry as well as those involved in the training of
Mechanical Engineering at the Vaal Triangle Technikon selected competencies,
which were hypothesised to be indicative of a potentially successful student. Based
on the selected competencies the assessment battery was compiled with the
selected indices being considered as predictor variables. A multiple regression
analysis was performed on data in order to establish the predictive validity of the
assessment battery.
SPEEX 2502 (Language proficiency) consistently showed a positive correlation on
the prediction of academic success. / Thesis (MA (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nwu/oai:dspace.nwu.ac.za:10394/192 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Kubayi, Rirhandzu Maureen |
| Publisher | North-West University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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