Abstract
The main goal of this study is to show that the association between university entrance score and first-year students’ academic performance varies randomly across courses after controlling for students’ sociodemographic, schooling trajectory and motivational variables. The sample consists of 2697 first-year students who were enrolled in 54 courses at a Portuguese public university in 2015/16. Multilevel modelling of academic performance suggests that 34% of variability in grade point average is due to differences among courses and that 80% of such variability is explained by the field of study, whether the university is the student’s first choice, and the student’s gender, age and parents’ level of education. In addition, the results corroborate that the university entrance score is the strongest predictor of first-year academic performance.
Highlights
Portuguese higher education is organised as a binary system, with university education oriented toward the provision of solid academic training, combining the efforts and responsibilities of both teaching and research units, while polytechnic education concentrates on vocational and advanced technical training that are professionally oriented (Assembleia da Republica 2007)
We applied variance component model (VCM) and random coefficients model (RCM) to data collected from 1940 Portuguese first-year students enrolled at a public university in 2015/16, considering first-year grade point average (GPA) as a dependent variable
The partitioning of the first-year GPA variance suggests that 66% is accounted for at the student level and 34% at the course level
Summary
Portuguese higher education is organised as a binary system, with university education oriented toward the provision of solid academic training, combining the efforts and responsibilities of both teaching and research units, while polytechnic education concentrates on vocational and advanced technical training that are professionally oriented (Assembleia da Republica 2007). Dias (2015) presented a detailed analysis of official statistics to investigate how this strong increase was achieved and raised the question of whether such an increase (‘massification’) led to greater equity in terms of access and of success in higher education. From 1971 to 2011, the number of students enrolled in higher education increased by 700%, from 49,461 to 396,268. This growth implied an increase in the heterogeneity of the student population in terms of gender, socioeconomic level, age group and past academic trajectories. The rates of failure and abandonment have increased in recent years in Portugal, leading to questions regarding how institutions can support student retention (Dias et al 2011; Ferreira, Vidal, and Vieira 2014)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
