Does the high school external examination grades and the type of high school attended impact the academic performance of freshmen university students?

Olumide Sunday Adesina; Lawarence O. Obokoh; Olajumoke Olayemi Salami; Olumide Sunday Adesina; Lawarence O. Obokoh; Olajumoke Olayemi Salami

doi:10.3934/steme.2024019

STEM Education

2024, Volume 4, Issue 4: 328-345. doi: 10.3934/steme.2024019

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Research article

Does the high school external examination grades and the type of high school attended impact the academic performance of freshmen university students?

1.
Johannesburg Business School, University of Johannesburg, South Africa; adesinao@uj.ac.za, lawrence.obokoh@jbs.ac.za
2.
Department of Science Technology Education, University of Johannesburg, South Africa; olajumokes@uj.ac.za

Academic Editor: Jun Shen

Received: 15 June 2024 Revised: 16 July 2024 Accepted: 22 July 2024 Published: 02 September 2024

There is a general conception that high school academic performance and the type of school a child attends would determine his/her academic success in the university. In this study, 135 freshmen engineering students were sampled at the Redeemer's University, Osun State, Nigeria. The study aimed to determine if the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and the type of school attended impact on academic performance of students in the first year at the university. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between UTME scores and the results of engineering freshmen; that is, students who attended private secondary schools performed somewhat better than students who went to public secondary schools. Also, statistical analyses showed that the type of secondary school attended has a significant relationship with UTME scores in favor of students who attended private secondary schools. This study recommends that the government of Nigeria should make public secondary school more appealing to students who cannot afford private secondary schools by putting measures in place to train and employ qualified teachers, and improve teaching and learning conditions. The study aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4, to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all and lifelong learning.
- academic performance,
- contingency measures,
- freshmen,
- STEM,
- university education
Citation: Olumide Sunday Adesina, Lawarence O. Obokoh, Olajumoke Olayemi Salami. Does the high school external examination grades and the type of high school attended impact the academic performance of freshmen university students?[J]. STEM Education, 2024, 4(4): 328-345. doi: 10.3934/steme.2024019

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Abstract

There is a general conception that high school academic performance and the type of school a child attends would determine his/her academic success in the university. In this study, 135 freshmen engineering students were sampled at the Redeemer's University, Osun State, Nigeria. The study aimed to determine if the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and the type of school attended impact on academic performance of students in the first year at the university. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between UTME scores and the results of engineering freshmen; that is, students who attended private secondary schools performed somewhat better than students who went to public secondary schools. Also, statistical analyses showed that the type of secondary school attended has a significant relationship with UTME scores in favor of students who attended private secondary schools. This study recommends that the government of Nigeria should make public secondary school more appealing to students who cannot afford private secondary schools by putting measures in place to train and employ qualified teachers, and improve teaching and learning conditions. The study aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4, to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all and lifelong learning.

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Author's biography Dr. Olumide Sunday Adesina holds a B.Sc (Hons.) in Data Science and Business Analytics (London), a B.Sc. (Hons) in Mathematics from the University of Ilorin, MBA (Ogbomoso), M.Sc. in Statistics (Lagos) and a Ph.D. in Statistics (Ogun), Nigeria. He is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. He is a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Redeemer's University in Nigeria. His area of specialization is mathematical statistics, computational statistics, and data science. He is a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in London. He has published over 50 scholarly articles, book chapters, and conference papers in reputable outlets; Prof. Lawarence Ogechuckwu Obokoh (PhD, MBA, FCA) is the Director of MBA programs at the Johannesburg Business School. He is a Professor of Finance and Small Business Development. A Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Prof Obokoh brings a wealth of expertise to his roles. Prof Obokoh earned his PhD from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (now Aberystwyth University), in the United Kingdom. He also holds an MBA with Cum Laude honors from Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, where he began his academic career as a Graduate Assistant and advanced to the rank of full Professor in 2015. His research interests encompass public finance, public policy, SME development, and digital transformation and sustainability. Prof Obokoh has contributed extensively to academic literature, with numerous journal articles and conference proceedings to his name; Dr. Salami Olajumoke Olayemi is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Science and Technology Education at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. She is a lecturer at the Federal University Oye Ekiti in Nigeria. Her research interests include curriculum instruction in mathematics education via technology

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