Factors that influence the academic performance of medical students with prior tertiary education

[摘要] An in-depth study was carried out with a view to provide the School of Medicine,University of the Free State, with more insight into the academic performance of seniorstudents (i.e. students with prior tertiary education) and factors influencing theperformance in their medical studies. Many studies have been done to investigate theinfluence of factors on academic performance with a view to enhance understanding ofacademic performance, to predict academic performance and to select the studentswho are best equipped to study medicine. Many factors have been identified andmeasured in the past years, but no study has focussed on the factors that influencethe academic performance of senior students specifically.In this study, the specific characteristics of senior students were identified andanalysed for having influence on academic performance. The research methodscomprised a literature review, a retrospective-cohort study (quantitative data) andsemi-structured interviews (qualitative data).The literature review provided the study with a theoretical framework. Recent andrelevant studies were used to gather information about characteristics of seniorstudents, factors that have an influence on academic performance and studentselection. Quantitative data were gathered from the database of the University of theFree State to measure and compare the academic performance of senior students withthe rest of the class. The quantitative data underwent statistical analyses to identifyfactors that influence the academic performance of senior students. Semi-structuredinterviews were conducted with the intent to include personal experiences, opinionsand ideas of the senior students on their academic performance and the influence oftheir previous studies and other factors.The quantitative and qualitative results were combined when the results wereinterpreted and discussed. Different factors that were found to have an influence in previous studies were confirmed, new factors were found and a few results differedfrom what was found in the literature.Different characteristics of senior students were identified in the semi-structuredinterviews; factors such as intrinsic motivation, maturity and more awareness oflearning style have a positive influence on academic performance. Social division fromthe rest of the class, financial strain and family commitments, however, have anegative influence on academic performance. The type of previous tertiary educationhad a limited influence on academic performance. The number of previous coursesand the number of years studied were found to have an influence (two or morecourses and more than five years have positive influence). Many students were of theopinion that their previous tertiary education helped them in the transition to medicalschool. The quantitative data analysis concluded that students with a HealthProfession background perform significantly better than the other senior students infirst and second year. Non-Science students start their medical studies significantlybetter than biomedical science students in the first year, but their performance dropsfar below the class average over time. A Biomedical Science background has a lowerpass rate in the first year compared to students who study Biomedical science for onlyone year. Demographic factors that were found to have a positive influence in everyyear were female gender and studying in the mother language. Older age showed tohave a negative influence on academic performance in fourth and fifth year.The findings of this study made a valuable contribution to the knowledge base ofhealth professions education. The study ends with a list of recommendations withregard to student selection and student support and development as well as furtherresearch. The sound research approach and methodology ensured quality, reliabilityand validity.

[发布机构] University of the Free State