Aptitude, school grades, Cambridge examination results and university performance : the Swaziland case

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among locality of school, type of school, gender of student, school GPA (GPA), aptitude (MEANAPT), Cambridge English Language (CAMENG), Cambridge class (CAMCLASS), and Cambridge aggregate (CAMAGGR). A second purpose of this research was to determine the relationship among GPA, MEANAPT, CAMENG, CAMCLASS, CAMAGGR, university registration status (STATUS), and average university grade (UNIMEAN) after 2 years at the University of Swaziland (UNISWA). The study was divided into two parts. In the first part, locality of school, type of school, and gender of student were the independent variables; GPA, MEANAPT, CAMENG, CAMCLASS, and CAMAGGR were the dependent variables. In the second part, performance at UNISWA, as measured by either STATUS or UNIMEAN, was the dependent variable; CAMENG, CAMCLASS, CAMAGGR, GPA, and MEANAPT were the independent variables.Answers to questions on Part 1 of the study were determined by computing means, standard deviations, and F-tests for differences between means for GPA, MEANAPT, CAMENG, CAMCLASS, and CAMAGGR for each of the general questions. Data were analyzed using Pearson r and multiple regression to answer Part 2 questions.The results of this study indicate that students enrolled in rural and government schools were outperformed by those attending urban and government-aided schools on all the measures. Although males outperformed females on the local Swaziland measures, school GPA and aptitude, there were no significant differences between males and females when the Cambridge examination scores were considered. The Cambridge examination appears to be neither efficient nor economical when used to identify the successful African student once he or she has been admitted to a local university. The same is true for the measures designed and currently used by local Swaziland educators. Swaziland officials may have to look elsewhere for predictors of university performance.Department of Educational PsychologyThesis (Ph. D.