Pre-enrolment factors influencing academic performance of entrepreneurship students at a tertiary institution in the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

A growing dissatisfaction with the poor pass rate and low throughput rate of students of higher education institutions (HEI) necessitates investigation of the factors that bring about these problems and the relevant interventions to manage them. The problem of pass rates and throughput rates has implications for employability of higher education institution graduates. The researcher argues that the choice a student makes with regard to a course or discipline has the capacity to influence the way the student perceives the course. For instance, if a student consciously chooses a course, there is the likelihood that the student will be interested in preparing for lectures, attending lectures, and participating in independent or group study. In doing so, the student will very likely achieve good marks and possibly graduate on time. This study thus looks at ways through which poor pass rates and low throughput rates can be minimised by specifically examining the predictors of academic success among students enrolled in higher education (HE) within the South African context. It is believed that a study of this nature will contribute to the understanding of the factors that persuade students to enrol for particular courses. Entrepreneurship remains an important contributor to socio-economic development of any nation, and as a result, more and more people are encouraged to take up entrepreneurship as a career. Considering the increasing rate of unemployment especially among the youth, the uptake of entrepreneurship is gaining much attention. Entrepreneurship education is considered an important instrument for job creation. As a consequence, there are implicit expectations of job creation from entrepreneurship graduates. Focusing on students enrolled for the Diploma in Entrepreneurship at a South African university, participants in this study included full-time (first year to third year) students also including those in the Extended Curriculum Programme (ECP). The perceived influence of pre-enrolment factors on students’ academic performance was explored quantitatively by means of a self-administered questionnaire designed specifically for this research that was distributed to 204 students. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 was used to analyse the emergent data. The factors explored included demographic properties, language proficiency, grade 12 performance, and high school attended. Perceptions on the contribution of high school career guidance, financial resources, study material, family support, family commitment and employment commitment were also explored. The entrepreneurial characteristics of the students were also determined, including confidence, networking ability, adapting to change, creativity, leadership, persistence, and goal-setting. The study also explored the presence and knowledge of available support systems at the university.

The findings underline three critical factors, namely: the lack of career guidance, study material and financial resources. These were found to influence high school academic performance thus affirming previous studies that point to the significance of career guidance, and study materials at basic education level. Family support was also identified as critical throughout the academic life of students. Equally important is the need for students to be aware of support systems that are available to them while in a Higher Education Institution (HEI). Such support systems include academic writing centres, the library services, financial aid and departmental tutorial system. The study notes that the uptake of these services should be encouraged. Certain interventions aimed at increasing academic performance of students are flagged. These include encouraging the promotion of career guidance at high school level. Specific to the discipline Entrepreneurship, the study suggests a tightening of the student recruitment process by entrepreneurship departments at universities; the promotion of intrapreneurship as a career through curricula offerings; encouraging the uptake of interventions offered; and the continuous monitoring of students’ entrepreneurial profile to adapt and apply interventions. The study also flags directions for future research as well as implications (theory and practice) of its findings.