Minimum Entry Requirements Research Articles

English Language Proficiency Tests and Academic Achievement: A Study on the Malaysian University English Test as a Predictor of Technical Programme Undergraduates Academic Achievement

In the Malaysian education system, English has always played an important role. In acknowledging its importance, Malaysian University English Test (MUET) has been introduced to enable continued emphasis on this role. MUET has been made compulsory for those who wish to pursue a first degree programme in local universities. This study aims to examine the relationship between English language proficiency test (as measured by MUET bands) to predict the undergraduates academic achievement (as measured by Cumulative Grade Point Average score). It also aims to determine the recommended MUET band as an entry requirement for prospective technical programme undergraduates in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). The study was carried out among 225 final year undergraduates of five different faculties in UPM, namely Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Forestry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, and Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The data used were obtained by administering a brief questionnaire and were quantitatively analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 19. The study revealed that there is a medium positive correlation between English language proficiency and academic achievement where students who have scored higher bands for MUET are the ones who obtained higher CGPA in their study. Based on the findings, it is recommended that UPM and other local universities make changes towards the minimum MUET entry requirement to help prospective undergraduates excel in their academic study. Keywords: English language proficiency, academic achievement, technical programme, MUET, CGPA

Academic Advising as Intervention for Enhancing the Academic Success of “At-Risk Students” at a Comprehensive University in South Africa

This article explores the role of an Academic Advising programme based on personal exchanges between academic staff member and students in enhancing the latter’s academic success. The contribution focuses specifically on the relevance of “Academic Advising” as an innovative strategy for boosting the academic performance of extended diploma programme students. This strategy responds to the imperative to design appropriate interventions to effectively assist with increasing the academic success of students from disadvantaged school backgrounds, who are considered “at-risk” especially in their first year. Put differently, Academic Advising is an intervention aimed at identifying these “at-risk” students early in their first year of study, and supporting them holistically with the view to increasing “access for success” in Higher Education. Interviews with staff members and students are used to elicit both parties’ experience of the particular intervention. It is shown that the success of this intervention is strongly linked to academic staff’s ability to identify the personal struggles of individual students, namely, accommodation issues, reading and language challenges, and lack of career guidance. Besides improving students’ academic performance, this intervention will create a sense of accomplishment, increased enthusiasm and confidence among these students, who did not initially meet the minimum entry requirements for Higher Education. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p732

Impact of Banking Supervision on the Cost Efficiency of Banks - An Example of Five Asian Developing Countries

The main purpose of banking supervision is to ensure stable operation of banks, minimize the risk for the stability of finance system, increase banking efficiency and promote competitiveness. However the question is whether banking supervision can benefit or damage banking efficiency. And how does banking supervision affect banking efficiency? This paper uses the stochastic frontier approach (SFA) of Battese and Coelli (1995)and stochastic metafrontier function (SMF) of Huang et al. (2012) to explore different impacts of the Financial Regulation on cost efficiency of banking industry in India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Mongolia. This study found out that related supervision policies is necessary but not necessary be able to benefit cost efficiency. According to the analysis of inefficiency model, capital regulation can lower the cost efficiency of banking in India, Thailand and Mongolia. However, the results are opposite for Bangladesh and Malaysia, the cost efficiency increase with government financial supervision because they avoid high risk investment activities. In the second stage, estimated SMF under meta-frontier cost function of the five countries, for the banking supervision, no matter whether it is TGR or MCE, Indian banks has the best results of 0.7527and 0.6715 respectively. Thailand has the lowest TGR value of 0.4608. Malaysia has the lowest MCE value of 0.3531; and Tobit regression consistency indicated that an increase in the strength of legal right will increase MCE and TGR; but credit depth information will increase bank’s total cost, and then decrease their cost efficiency. The result shows that higher minimum regulatory capital increase MCE, TGR, and CE is consistent with the hypothesis raised by the moral hazard approach (Mester, 1996). However, minimum capital entry requirement and MCE, TGR, and CE are negatively correlated, statistically insignificant.

Student's Say: Craft a Stand-Out Application

Student's Say: Craft a Stand-Out Application

Implementing an intervention to assist Certificate IV students to transition successfully to undergraduate study within an AQF contextualisation: A case study

In response to the poor performance of students in 2007 who had used a Certificate IV to meet minimum entry requirements, The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle campus, developed a specific intervention. A compulsorily-required ‘primer’ course was developed and taught by a staff member with extensive experience in both vocational education and training (VET) as well as higher education settings. The course attempted, in part, to address the lack of student experience with extended reading and writing tasks and to position students to be successful in their undergraduate studies. In doing so, it highlighted core intra-sector differences in terms of how each interprets learning skills, outcomes and competencies as defined under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Its link to increased retention within undergraduate courses offers a valuable case study to address such differences through established learning support principles. Though compulsory, the course has been well received by enrolling students and student feedback post-course has been overwhelmingly positive. This paper explores the reasons for the development of the ‘primer’, its structure and the issues which arose relevant to the AQF’s qualification pathways policy. The paper acknowledges the absence of specific policy AQF guidelines to assist any pedagogical (general teaching and learning approaches) (Darder, Baltodano, & Torres, 2009) or andragogical (adult learning approaches) (Knowles, 1980) review of intra-sector differences, however, some theory suggests that combining pedagogy and andragogy will help shape future discussion on gaps in national qualification pathways.

Qualité des soins, gestion du risque et technologie obstétricale (QUARITE) : un essai contrôlé en grappe pour réduire la mortalité maternelle hospitalière au Sénégal et au Mali

to assess the level, type and content of pre-service education curricula of health workers providing maternity services against the ICM global standards for Midwifery Education and Essential competencies for midwifery practice. We reviewed the quality and relevance of pre-service education curricula of four cadres of health-care providers of maternity care in Northern Nigeria.we adapted and used the ICM global standards for Midwifery Education and Essential competencies for midwifery practice to design a framework of criteria against which we assessed curricula for pre-service training. We reviewed the pre-service curricula for Nurses, Midwives, Community Health Extension Workers (CHEW) and Junior Community Health Extension Workers (JCHEW) in three states. Criteria against which the curricula were evaluated include: minimum entry requirement, the length of the programme, theory: practice ratio, curriculum model, minimum number of births conducted during training, clinical experience, competencies, maximum number of students allowable and proportion of Maternal, Newborn and Child Health components (MNCH) as part of the total curriculum.four pre-service education programmes were reviewed; the 3 year basic midwifery, 3 year basic nursing, 3 year Community Health Extension Worker (CHEW) and 2 year Junior Community Health Extension Worker (JCHEW) programme. Findings showed that, none of these four training curricula met all the standards. The basic midwifery curriculum most closely met the standards and competencies set out. The nursing curriculum showed a strong focus on foundations of nursing practice, theories of nursing, public health and maternal newborn and child health. This includes well-defined modules on family health which are undertaken from the first year to the third year of the programme. The CHEW and JCHEW curricula are currently inadequate with regard to training health-care workers to be skilled birth attendants.although the midwifery curriculum most closely reflects the ICM global standards for Midwifery Education and Essential competencies for midwifery practice, a revision of the competencies and content is required especially as it relates to the first year of training. There is an urgent need to modify the JCHEW and CHEW curricula by increasing the content and clinical hands-on experience of MNCH components of the curricula. Without effecting these changes, it is doubtful that graduates of the CHEW and JCHEW programmes have the requisite competencies needed to function adequately as skilled birth attendants in Health Centres, PHCs and MCHs, without direct supervision of a midwife or medical doctor with midwifery skills.

The challenges facing initial teacher education: Irish prospective elementary teachers’ mathematics subject matter knowledge

Given the acknowledged relationship between teachers’ knowledge, their teaching and pupil learning, teachers’ mathematics subject matter knowledge (MSMK) has received increased attention internationally. As children's early mathematics experiences have been recognized as a critical stage, elementary teachers’ MSMK has become a focal point among researchers and policy makers alike. International research findings have uncovered that in many cases, there is a mismatch between what is perceived to be an appropriate MSMK for teaching elementary mathematics and that demonstrated by many qualified and prospective elementary teachers. Following repeated incidences of weak MSMK during interactions with prospective elementary teachers in one Irish College of Education (provider of initial teacher education programme for elementary teachers), this study sought to examine and address the issue purposefully through two cycles of action research. This article focuses on the data collected prospective teachers’ MSMK in the initial stage (reconnaissance) of these cycles, i.e. pre-test findings. While considerable differences were evident among the pre-test population, the findings suggest that prior to the intervention stage many participating prospective teachers; regardless of previous mathematics achievements or the level of mathematics study; demonstrate weaknesses and gaps in their ‘common’ MSMK. Particular difficulties were evident in relation to pre-test items requiring knowledge of rational numbers, conceptual understanding or problem solving. These findings highlight the inadequacy of previous mathematics achievements and indeed minimum entry requirements as predictors of MSMK for teaching. As well as its contribution at a local and national level, the findings provide an Irish perspective on this international issue.

Capacity building of skilled birth attendants: A review of pre-service education curricula

Objectiveto assess the level, type and content of pre-service education curricula of health workers providing maternity services against the ICM global standards for Midwifery Education and Essential competencies for midwifery practice. We reviewed the quality and relevance of pre-service education curricula of four cadres of health-care providers of maternity care in Northern Nigeria. Design and settingwe adapted and used the ICM global standards for Midwifery Education and Essential competencies for midwifery practice to design a framework of criteria against which we assessed curricula for pre-service training. We reviewed the pre-service curricula for Nurses, Midwives, Community Health Extension Workers (CHEW) and Junior Community Health Extension Workers (JCHEW) in three states. Criteria against which the curricula were evaluated include: minimum entry requirement, the length of the programme, theory: practice ratio, curriculum model, minimum number of births conducted during training, clinical experience, competencies, maximum number of students allowable and proportion of Maternal, Newborn and Child Health components (MNCH) as part of the total curriculum. Findingsfour pre-service education programmes were reviewed; the 3 year basic midwifery, 3 year basic nursing, 3 year Community Health Extension Worker (CHEW) and 2 year Junior Community Health Extension Worker (JCHEW) programme. Findings showed that, none of these four training curricula met all the standards. The basic midwifery curriculum most closely met the standards and competencies set out. The nursing curriculum showed a strong focus on foundations of nursing practice, theories of nursing, public health and maternal newborn and child health. This includes well-defined modules on family health which are undertaken from the first year to the third year of the programme. The CHEW and JCHEW curricula are currently inadequate with regard to training health-care workers to be skilled birth attendants. Key conclusionsalthough the midwifery curriculum most closely reflects the ICM global standards for Midwifery Education and Essential competencies for midwifery practice, a revision of the competencies and content is required especially as it relates to the first year of training. There is an urgent need to modify the JCHEW and CHEW curricula by increasing the content and clinical hands-on experience of MNCH components of the curricula. Without effecting these changes, it is doubtful that graduates of the CHEW and JCHEW programmes have the requisite competencies needed to function adequately as skilled birth attendants in Health Centres, PHCs and MCHs, without direct supervision of a midwife or medical doctor with midwifery skills.

International Perspectives: Developmental Education in South Africa

Eric J. Paulson interviewsMariaan Klopper from North-West University,Potchefstroom,South AfricaMariaan Klopper is in the Institutional Academic Support Services department of North- West University in South Africa. She is the third person in South Africa- and one of only 14 people worldwide- to be designated as a certified trainer for Supplemental Instruction. Mariaan started her career in higher in 1989 as a reading expert appointed to support students with learning difficulties, focusing on interventions to enhance strategic reading in higher education. Her university was the first in South Africa to implement a compulsory, credit-bearing learning and reading course in 2001 . She served as the head of the Division for Learner Support for 11 years before her appointment in the newly merged institution as a manager of Teaching and Learning, and she currently heads the regional office for Supplemental Instruction.Eric J. Paulson (EJP): Talk about the system of higher in South Africa and where fits in. Who goes to college and for what purposes?Mariaan Klopper (MK): In South Africa, the system is divided into three broad bands within the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The first is the General Education and Training (GET) band, which includes grade 9 as well as Adult Basic Education and Training. The second band is the Further Education and Training (FET) band, which focuses on grades 10-12 and career-oriented technical and postsecondary and training. The third band is the Higher Education and Training (HET) band. University qualifications are presented in this band, including master's degrees and doctorates. Students generally try to get into universities after they have completed the National Senior Certificate- the equivalent of a highschool diploma- and while completion of grade 10 is mandatory for all South Africans, students must complete grade 12 before going into higher education. Students can enroll into either a university or a further training and college, which awards them with national certificates and occupational awards.Developmental has been part of higher in South Africa since the early nineties in the form of programs and foundation provisional programs, also called extendedcurriculum programs. This was generally found in previously advantaged universities to enable admission of previously disadvantaged students who, while complying with the minimum statutory entry requirements, did not meet the necessary criteria for a particular program. This was inline with the Minister of Education's goal to address the inequalities in education, largely due to apartheid policies of the past. In this way, South African universities worked to broaden access to previously disadvantaged students, and in 2004, the government began funding foundation provisional programs in universities.EJP: What is the discourse of in South Africa?MK: With regard to terminology, we don't use the term developmental education per se- instead, we use terms like academic development or provision. These are programs with support, so we'll call it extended as well. We augment students' normal courses with foundational work, work with communication, reading, writing, information technology, and numeracy support. The discourse in South Africa is on addressing the challenges of widening participation and key skills agendas while ensuring success. This becomes more complex within the socioeconomic realities of a developing country and the poor economic climate worldwide. The pressure in the South African contexts is to develop curriculum (termed program in our university) models that can accommodate a more heterogeneous student population. Discourses interrogate provision in terms of target group, intended outcomes, assumptions, and curriculum contexts. …

28. How Much Language Do They Need? The Dilemma English-Medium Universities Face When Enrolling English as an Additional Language Students

Although international and domestic students applying to English-medium universities may well meet the minimum language entry requirement, recent research indicates that this level of language proficiency often does not provide students with the means to cope effectively with their academic studies (Barthel, 2007; Elder, 2003; Read & Hayes, 2003). To resolve this dilemma our major, multicultural New Zealand university is addressing the problem through implementation of the Diagnostic English Language Needs Assessment (DELNA), a post-entry programme administered to all first-year undergraduate students, regardless of their language background. We use the diagnostic outcomes to guide individual students with particular needs to appropriate forms of academic language enrichment. This paper outlines DELNA’s history and administration, student responses to the assessment and the subsequent development and uptake of language support options.

Medical education: Should undergraduate medicine be post-baccalaureate?

In 1960 the first 13 medical students fully trained in Nigeria to internationally accepted standard graduated from the then University College Ibadan, earning the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) London degree. Since then thousands of doctors trained to international standard have been produced from different medical schools in Nigeria. The Medical & Dental Council of Nigeria has now registered about 50, 000 doctors most of whom trained locally in Nigerian universities. The doctors were admitted into the universities with SSCE or its equivalent as the minimum entry requirement. These doctors have acquitted themselves by admirably working hard to in various capacities, including research, teaching and clinical services, to address and solve the health needs of Nigerians and beyond. Recently the National Universities Commission (NUC) proposed and may soon implement a policy that would make the university first degree the minimum qualification for entry into medical schools in Nigeria. The new policy advocates a 4 year medical undergraduate curriculum. However this would in effect translate to a minimum of 9 years post-secondary school to produce a medical doctor. Given the perennial instability in the health and educational sectors in Nigeria as well as the difficulties in obtaining placement for internship, it may practically take up to 15 years post-secondary school to fully register a doctor. Therefore the new NUC policy will have the effect of producing aging young doctors which will in turn put the lives of Nigerians at increased risk. Whatever be the flaw with the current 5 or 6 year straight MBBS programme is not due to the fact that SSCE or its equivalent is the minimum entry qualification. A minimum medical school entry qualification that has served Nigeria well for more than 50 years should not be jettisoned without convincing scientific evidence that it is detrimental to Nigeria's health policy and medical education process.

Shortlisting from the Clearing House Application Form: Is it Fit for Purpose?

Although many clinical psychology courses are now making use of validated selection tools, changes in selection processes are almost entirely focused on the post-shortlisting part of the process. The large numbers of applicants who regularly apply to get on courses has led to a traditional reliance on information supplied on the application forms used by the Clearing House (the organisation responsible for coordinating all applications to British clinical psychology training courses), including the academic and clinical references. Training courses tend to outline minimum entry requirements which are, typically, a 2(i) degree or better, a minimum of six to 12 months' relevant experience, graduate basis for registration with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and European Union citizenship. These minimum entry requirements enable a first phase screening process to take place. Following this phase a closer analysis of the application form takes place, with most courses assigning candidates scores along various criteria. These criteria are not always explicitly outlined by courses, but courses seem to try to quantify applicants in similar areas. For example, candidates can be rated on qualifications, motivation, realism, experience and references. However, the shortlisting process depends fundamentally on the belief that the information we collect via the application form predicts the best trainees. For example, previous clinical experience is rated highly and usually gains the applicants extra points. Similarly, further academic qualifications such as masters are also privileged. However, the question remains as to how shortlisting can be based on these assumptions when so little evidence exists. While the notion that a standard or baseline is probably important, where is the evidence that these sorts of experiences should be given added value? This article argues that evidence from occupational psychology and our own empirical research at Lancaster suggests the shortlisting component of our selection criteria needs a radical evaluation and overhaul to make it ft for purpose.

England hikes educational requirements for nurses

The minimum entry requirement for nurses in England will be raised to a four-year degree by 2013 in a bid to improve patient care and elevate the status of nurses in the United Kingdom. The current entry requirement — a two- or three-year diploma — will be elevated to four years of courses that

Scottish student primary teachers' levels of mathematics competence and confidence for teaching mathematics: some implications for national qualifications and initial teacher education

An important social concern in mathematics education is that the educational attainment of pupils may be influenced by teachers' competence in the curricular area they are teaching. This paper provides some insight into the relationship between student primary teachers' mathematics subject knowledge and their reported confidence to teach that subject. Eighty Bachelor of Education first year students completed an attitudes survey as well as an online mathematics competence test which consisted of 28 randomly generated questions from a bank of approximately 300 questions based on the attainment targets of the Scottish curriculum 5–14 document at level F with some E. Students were asked to rank teacher attributes. Though 98% of the students ranked basic numeracy skills as the most important, 65% of the cohort did not possess these skills. Moreover 95% suggested confidence was important, but confidence levels were found to be low even among students with higher than minimum entry requirements to the undergraduate primary teaching programme. It is perhaps not the level of mathematics that needs to be changed but the nature of mathematics taught and learned at that level that needs to be addressed. This in turn has implications for the approaches and the programmes deployed by Initial Teacher Education courses.

DIA to BAcc: A Case of UiTM Sarawak Campus

This study was conducted as a result of the declining numbers of Diploma in Accountancy (DIA) students obtaining a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 2.75 and above in the Sarawak Campus of UiTM. The reason why CGPA 2.75 was identified as the cut‐off point was because this is the minimum entry requirement for students to enter the degree program in Accountancy. A questionnaire survey was carried out at UiTM Sarawak Campus with the hope of finding the root cause(s) of this problem by focusing on DIA students who were in their final semesters. A total of 65 questionnaires were distributed to selected respondents in Parts 6, 7 and 8 of the DIA program. In addition to that, these students were observed without much interference to their ordinary situation, so that a more reliable outcome could be obtained. From the survey, the researchers found that the factors that caused the decline in the numbers of students achieving a CGPA of 2.75 and above can be categorized into avoidable and unavoidable. The avoidable factors include students’ attitude, study skills and peer influence. These factors are considered avoidable because they are within the students’ control. Final exam paper difficulty is an unavoidable factor, because it is not under the students’ control. The findings show that the university, lecturers and students all have significant roles to play in helping these students obtain a CGPA of 2.75 and above. They should complement one another so that their joint effort can be optimized. Based on the above findings, the researchers conclude that the university, lecturers and students should work together to produce better results not only in terms of the CGPA outcomes but also to improve the students’ attitude.

Distance guidance for lifelong learners in Hong Kong: development of an online programme preference assessment instrument

In order to build a knowledge‐based society and meet the needs of lifelong education, open learning opportunities are growing at exponential rates. While such growth is commendable, there appears to be a very strong demand for distance guidance services in open education programme selection. The purpose of this study was to develop the online self‐directed inventory, the Academic Programme Preference Instrument (APPI), for the lifelong learners in Hong Kong. The methods of questionnaire survey and standardized psychological measurement were employed. In this study, 2775 respondents were surveyed in order to identify and verify the inventory, using a multistage stratified cluster sampling technique. The inventory consists of 112 items under nine personal attribute types, namely: organizational; mechanical; scientific; sociological; mathematical; literary; musical; aesthetic; and social service. Eighty‐nine distance and continuing education professionals were invited to help to determine the most important personal attributes that a learner should possess in order to meet the minimum entry requirements of each of the 73 education programme categories that account for over 800 open education programmes in Hong Kong. The online APPI, in English and Chinese versions, has been linked to the homepage of the Hok Yau Club in Hong Kong for the public to use freely. As Hong Kong aims to foster lifelong learning in a knowledge‐based society, it is expected that the APPI can help lifelong learners to make wise open education programme selection and to enhance learners’ success in pursuing continuing education.

The development of the first nurse-led bronchoscopy post in the United Kingdom

Nurses routinely practice Gastrointestinal endoscopy in the United Kingdom (UK) but, to our knowledge, bronchoscopy has never been introduced as a nursing discipline. The need for a nurse bronchoscopist was identified within our respiratory unit and the post was developed. This process involved: (1) seeking a precedent for the role of nurse bronchoscopist, (2) designing an appropriate teaching programme, (3) obtaining hospital accreditation for the programme, (4) supervising and completing the training, and (5) implementing a nurse-led bronchoscopy service. The development phase took approximately 1 year. No precedent was found for nurse-led bronchoscopy in the UK or elsewhere. The training programme defined minimum entry requirements and was modelled on UK nurse GI endoscopy training and the British Thoracic Society bronchoscopy guidelines. The role of nurse bronchoscopist was deemed to comply with professional codes of nursing practice by the chief nurse and the hospital management board authorised a service framework for the post. The first trainee completed the programme in January 2003 and has now examined 125 patients independently [endobronchial tumour biopsy hit-rate=95% (95% CI 76–99%)]. The post of nurse bronchoscopist has been successfully developed and accredited within our hospital.

Statutory minimum entry requirements for nurses.

I would like to respond to Maggie Fenby-Taylor (letters November 27) who writes about my article 'Pointing the way' (perspectives November 6). The qualifications mentioned in my article are the statutory minimum entry requirements referred to in the Nursing and Midwifery Admissions Service handbook.

Views of junior doctors on the specialist registrar (SpR) training scheme: qualitative study of UK medical graduates.

To report junior doctors' views on specialist registrar (SpR) training. In 1999, as part of ongoing studies of doctors' careers, we surveyed all doctors who had qualified from UK medical schools in 1993. Structured questions about recipients' careers were accompanied by a form inviting free text comments. Comments about the SpR scheme were extracted for analysis. Doctors commented that there were insufficient national training numbers (NTNs) for those who wanted them, and that more than the minimum entry requirements seemed necessary for shortlisting. Strengthening curricula vitae through research and published work could prolong the duration of training and did not guarantee success. Specialist registrar training was considered by some respondents to be narrow and inflexible, with service work taking priority over training needs. As a result, some respondents feared they would not be competent to practise as consultants. There was a perceived shortage of consultant vacancies and 6 months was considered insufficient time for obtaining a suitable post. It is inevitable that doctors may not necessarily be able to pursue their initially chosen career paths. Trainers need to provide realistic advice about career opportunities. Provision of information about NTN availability and formal career counselling could help to prevent delays in career progression. The shortened and more structured programme of training has reduced its flexibility in some doctors' experience. Improvements in educational content will need greater input from consultants, which may require an increase in consultant posts. Time will tell whether concerns about competence to practise as consultants and consultant post availability will be justified.

Study of performance of first year USP students with respect to their form seven marks

To see if there is a significant difference between the performance of the first year (100 level) students at the University of the South Pacific (USP) having different Form Seven marks, a statistical analysis is carried out using their Cumulative Grade Point Averages (CGPA). For this analysis, relevant data was obtained for the years 1997-2001 and the Form Seven marks (Total of English and best 3 subjects) were divided into the classes 250 – 259, 260 – 269, and ≥ 270. Results indicate that there is a significant difference between the CGPA of these three classes. A further analysis is then carried out by using the CGPA of only the first two classes 250 – 259 and 260 – 269 in order to determine if an increase in the entry requirements from 250 to 260 will be justified. Under its current admission regulations, USP accepts into its degree programmes all students who have passed the seventh form examination with an aggregate of at least 250 marks out of 400 with a minimum of 50% in English. The results of our analysis indicate that the minimum entry requirement could be increased to 260 if USP feels that the level of significance (Type 1 Error) is more than 3.17 percent. However, the minimum entry level should remain as 250 if the significance level is at most 3.17 percent.