Content area
Abstract
This empirical study forms part of a team research that was spearheaded by the Bureau of University education at the rand Afrikaans University in the light of the relatively high failure rate of first year students and the negative implications that this has for an institute of higher learning. The Bureau of University Education is attempting to establish a better student selection mechanism and this study forms cognitive and non cognitive factors that any have an influence on the academic achievement of first year students.
Although various cognitive and non cognitive factors are involved in the selection mechanism, this study is purely complementary to the team research project in that it concentrates on a single cognitive factor, namely intelligence, and its influence on academic achievement.
Previous studies have determined that intelligence tests justify inclusion in selection tests at universities, but that intelligence in itself cannot be viewed independently and must be viewed in conjunction with other cognitive and non cognitive factors.
The test group consisted of first year B.A.(Ed.), B.Sc.(Ed.) and B.Com. (Ed.) undergranduate student who registered at the Rand Afrikaans University during 1986 and 1987. The NSAG intelligence test was used as a measuring instrument while the method employed in the research study is that which is generally known as the "ex post facto" approach which makes use of data already available. The data was processed by means, of the xa ttest.
The findings of this empirical study indicate that intelligence as a single factor cannot be utilised in the prediction of academic achievement on its own but combined with other cognitive and non cognitive factors it. forms an integral part of the selection mechanism.
