Attendance in higher education: does it matter?

Does attendance affect the academic achievement of students or is their academic achievement already predisposed by student characteristics such as entry qualifications, gender or age? This question is often debated in discussion about whether or not attendance should be compulsory for students studying in higher education. This paper provides the findings of an empirical investigation into the impact of attendance and student characteristics on academic achievement in higher education. The findings are based on a study of 179 students that completed an undergraduate taught module in Airport Business Management between 2003/4 and 2006/7. The study follows on from a previous study (Halpern, 2007), which investigated the impact of attendance and student characteristics on the academic achievement of 127 students that completed the same module between 2003/4 and 2005/6