As participation in higher education increases and greater diversity is reflected in the student body, universities face new challenges regarding student transition, progression, retention and ultimately, academic success. Prior literature identifies that students’ academic achievements are influenced by a range of background variables and their approaches to learning, reflecting the complex web of interactions that occur during the learning process. This paper examines the relationships between students’ preparedness for higher education, their motives, expectations, prior achievements, learning approaches and their academic success. Specifically, it compares the personal variables and learning approaches of students who excel academically, to those who are significantly less successful in their studies.

 

The research focuses on first year accounting students at an Irish university. Cluster analysis was carried out to identify factors distinguishing high achieving students from low achieving students. The analysis reveals that the high achievers take a more strategic approach to their learning and have better prior academic results. Furthermore, they are less interested in the sports and social opportunities offered at university and are more likely to read around the syllabus. The study enhances educators’ understanding of academic success in a disciplinary context and outlines directions for future research.

 

As participation in higher education increases and greater diversity is reflected in the student body, universities face new challenges regarding student transition, progression, retention and ultimately, academic success. Prior literature identifies that students’ academic achievements in higher education are influenced by a range of background variables and how they approach their learning, which reflects a complex web of interactions that occurs during the learning process (Johnston, 2001). There is a need to understand the relationship of these factors in specific disciplinary settings (Entwistle and Ramsden, 1983; Meyer and Eley, 1999) and consequently this paper aims to develop a richer insight into the variables associated with first year accounting students’ success in higher education. It examines the relationships between a range of personal student variables (motives, expectations, preparedness for higher education, prior achievements), their learning approaches and their academic achievement. Specifically, it compares the personal variables and learning approaches of students who are highly successful academically, to those who are significantly less successful.

 

 

The study was conducted with students on an accounting degree programme at an Irish university. It focused on first year students, as it is during that period that students are most likely to encounter transitional problems and to experience academic failure (Mathews and Mulkeen, 2002; Ozga and Surhanandan, 1997). A questionnaire was designed to gather data on students’ prior academic achievements, their motives, expectations and preparedness for higher education. Completed questionnaires were received at the beginning of the year from 129 students out of a potential population of 135 students. The Approaches to Study Skills Inventory for Students was distributed two weeks prior to the end of the year to collect information on the students’ approaches to learning. Ninety-five students completed the instrument. Details of their academic performance, measured by their overall average mark, were extracted from the university’s examination records. When all the data were merged, there was a complete data set for 89 students.

 

To gain an insight into the factors associated with academic performance the profiles of high achieving and low achieving students were examined. This was accomplished by performing a cluster analysis using students’ average mark across all first year modules as the cluster variable. K-means cluster analysis was utilised, as this allows for the greatest distinction between the clusters (Makinen, Olkinuora and Lonka, 2004). To clearly differentiate highly successful students from less successful students, the analysis and discussion focused on the two extreme clusters. Students in Cluster 1 on average achieved a pass grade, while students in Cluster 3 on average were awarded a first class honours. Mann-Whitney tests were carried out to investigate the existence of any significant differences in the personal variables and the approaches to learning of the two clusters.

 

 

High achieving students exhibit significantly better prior academic results than low achieving students, as demonstrated by their overall grades in their school examinations and their performance in their school accounting examination. The analysis also shows that there is a highly significant difference in the scores of the two groups on the strategic learning approach scale, while there are no significant differences in their scores on the deep and surface scales. Not surprisingly, the highly successful students are far more strategic than the less successful students. Students who excel in their first year examinations are more organised in their study, more alert to the demands of assessment and are motivated by a desire to do well in their assessments. Furthermore, they are less bound by the syllabus than low achieving students. Finally, this later group of students are more strongly motivated by the opportunity to participate in sports and social activities than the more academically successful students.   

 

 

The contributions of this study are three-fold. Firstly, while many prior studies have examined factors associated with academic performance, few have sought to examine the impact of personal variables and learning approach variables within a single study. In so doing, this research responds to the call to expand the variable set, as attempts are made to enhance educators’ understanding of the factors that contribute to students’ success in higher education (Clarke, 1995; Koh and Koh, 1999). The second significant contribution of this study is that it develops specific knowledge of academic success, learning approaches and their antecedents within in the discipline of accounting. Thus, the study fosters the development of disciplinary insights into academic achievement. Finally, this study was conducted in Ireland, where there is a shortage of research on student learning and success within higher education. It provides opportunities for further work in Ireland and a basis for comparative work in other countries.

 

 

 

 

Entwistle, N. and Ramsden, P. (1983) Understanding Student Learning, London: Croom Helm.

 

Johnston, C. (2001) Student perceptions of learning in first year in an economics and commerce faculty, Higher Education Research and Development, 20(2), 169 – 194.

 

 

 

 

Meyer, J. and Eley, M. (1999) The development of effective subscales to reflect variation in students’ experiences of studying mathematics in higher education, Higher Education, 37, 197 – 216.