Students' and lecturers' perceptions of some factors influencing students' academic success or failure at a historically black university in South Africa

Abstract

This study investigated the perceptions of students and lecturers of some factors influencing students' academic success or failure at a university. To this end, the ‘success' scale and ‘failure' scale were used. The results indicated that the correlation between lecturers' and students' ratings of factors that contribute to student success was strong, positive, and significant while the correlation on the ratings of factors that contribute to failure was very weak, positive, but not significant. The results also indicated that the correlation between the ratings given by first-year students and senior students with regard to factors contributing to success was strong, positive, and significant while the correlation on the ratings of factors contributing to failure was weak, positive, and significant. The findings are discussed and suggestions are made with regard to measures to improve lecturers' and students' understanding of factors that are likely to contribute to students' academic success or failure at a university.

South African Journal of Higher Education Vol. 21 (4) 2007: pp. 717-732