The right programme : academic pathways of engineering transfer students

In South Africa, the variety of engineering qualifications available makes the task of appropriately placing students unusually problematic. Students who are unsuccessful in a particular engineering programme may excel in another, and frequently students who are excluded from a four-year Bachelors programme are recommended to a three-year National Diploma programme. However, these recommendations are often made without understanding the expected outcome of such a transfer, and to the best of knowledge there has not been an engineering focussed study of how transfer students perform. This study fills that gap, classifying and analysing the performance of students who have transferred between engineering qualifi cations at the University of Johannesburg. The academic pathways followed by students are codifi ed in a manner similar to that suggested by Robinson (2004), adapted to show more details relevant to South African engineering programmes. The results provide insight into the pathways followed by students as they transfer between programmes, and consider student characteristics that can be used to evaluate policies on transfer students. Notably, several common theories on which transfer students are successful are considered, though the results show that the indicators are not significant enough to form a basis of policy. Generally, a more comprehensive policy on transfer students must inform decisions