Proposed academic students' performance prediction model: A Malaysian case study

Abstract

Abstract : - This paper describes the performance of Engineering Electrical Degree students at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. The study was based on longitudinal progress of Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) for every semester until graduation for three consecutive intakes of matriculation students namely July 2005, July 2006 and July 2007. Then, the same methodology was applied to consecutive intakes of students that are Diploma holders for July 2006, July 2007 and July 2008.The outcomes of the research indicates that the there is a correlation between students abilities in semester one with the final overall academic performance irrespective of gender. It can be ascertained that the abilities and strong engineering fundamentals are strong factors in influencing the overall academic performance. A prediction model was then proposed to predict the overall students’ performance. Keywords : - Abilities, engineering fundamentals, academic performance and CGPA I. INTRODUCTIONThe education system in Malaysia is very well structured right from pre-school to secondary school. The education system in Malaysia is open to all students irrespective of gender right from the early education to higher education [1]. On average, a student spends six years (6) in the primary education and another five (5) years in the secondary level. At the end of which, student has to sit for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) which is equivalent to the “O” level program. SPM students must undertake a minimum of nine subjects. Malaysia is also one of the countries in the Asian region that acknowledges the importance of education and is in tandem with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that adheres to equal access to and equal treatment of female and men in education to reduce gender inequality. The education system adopted is based on Education for All (EFA) Dakar Goals and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted in 2000 that emphasized the promotion of gender and empowering female through education. Currently, in Malaysia, more females than males are pursuing higher education in various courses such as arts and humanities as well as science and technology in the public universities. Female students in the higher education take up 58.8% of the total enrolment in colleges and universities. [2][3] Ariffin et all [4] asserted that students’ achievement in public examinations and those university graduates in Malaysia show such pattern being dominated by the females. Virmala R [5] reported that Malaysia, one of the countries in Asia-Pacific Region that has Gender Parity Index (GPI) for tertiary education exceeds 1, implying that more female access higher education in comparison to men. With that index, it will definitely help to boost the nation development workforce which includes female that account for nearly half (48%) of the working-age population (15-64 years). This implies that the female’s economic contribution towards optimising the potential of female in the country’s social and economic development is of dire importance. The issue of access to higher education is greatly influenced by several factors which include students themselves and their family background. John et all [6] pointed out that in order to meet any nation’s need and preparing for workplace, the engineering schools need to attract more students into the programs particularly the minorities as well as under-represented and at the same time further improve the retention rate of students who had chosen to take up engineering courses. Students’ academic performance is very important indeed to any higher institution of learning. Some students can graduate on time while others needed longer track. However, students who are already in