Determinants of success of studying at the School of Economics and Business,

University of Sarajevo

Research Paper

Ajla ŠušićUniversity of Sarajevo

School of Economics and Business

INTRODUCTION

• What factors affect student success?

• The aim of the research paper is to identify the key factors that determine a student's performance during their studies.

Successduring

education

Average grade

Student's knowledge

Continuous work

Effort

OVERVIEW OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH

Gender

Student Attendance

A survey of socio-demographic

determinants of school achievement by Kalajdžićet al. (2015) confirmed

that student gender can be a couse of differences in school achievement.

Based on a study conducted at Polk Community College

in Florida, it has been found that absence is poorly correlated with exam performance, while

nonviolent absenteeism significantly influences final

grades (Nelson 1973).

OVERVIEW OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH, cont.

Parental education level

Place of residence during study

Research particularly emphasizes the

importance of mothers education, since it is more

often that father is not involved in the child's daily school activities

(Markuš, 2005).

Few studies examining the difference in adjustment

between students living in and outside the dorm find

out that students in the dorm are better in social

adjustment and have stronger institutional

attachment compared to students living outside the

dorm. (Baker, 2004).

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

• Interviewing undergraduate students at the Faculty of Economics in Sarajevo

• Primary data

• 210 respondents (63 male and 147 female)

• 18 to 38 years

Male30%

Female70%

Graph 1 Distribution of students by gender

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 38

Graph 2 Distribution of students by age

Multiple linear regression model

The estimated model:

Success = 7,05 + 1,64Attendance + 0,006Physical Activity – 0,12Second year + 0,02Third year –

0,09Economics + 0,24High school business - 0,11Regular self-financing students + 0,02DL -

0,6Monthly learning - 0,83Weekly learning + 0,23Elementary school (father) + 0,1High school (father)

– 0,44Elementary school (mother) – 0,32High school (mother) – 0,17With parents - 0,04Rent an

apartment – 0,15Other (place of residence) - 0,11Labor intensity + 0,32Mathematics – 0,2Mother

tongue + 0,01The average grade in high school

Regression diagnostics

• Ramsey test p=0.0556>0.05

• Skewness/Kurtosis test p=0.0049<0.05

• White's test p=0,0963>0.05

• VIF (Variance Inflation Factor) test VIF=3.9<5

Graph 4 HomoscedasticityGraph 3 Kernel density estimate

Research results

Success Coefficient Standard Error t-value p-value

Attendance 1,643* 0,127 12,910 0,000

Physical Activity 0,006* 0,003 2,030 0,044

Second year -0,118* 0,057 -2,070 0,040

Third year 0,022 0,053 0,410 0,679

Economics -0,089 0,052 -1,690 0,093

High school business 0,244 0,158 1,540 0,124

Regular self-financing

students-0,107* 0,042 -2,560 0,011

DL 0,025 0,201 0,120 0,901

Monthly learning -0,598* 0,064 -9,290 0,000

Weekly learning -0,834* 0,078 -10,750 0,000

Elementary school

(father) 0,228* 0,095 2,410 0,017

High school (father) 0,101* 0,041 2,450 0,015*statistically significant at 0,05

Source: Authors’ calculations

Research results, cont.

Success Coefficient Standard Error t-value p-value

With parents -0,167* 0,070 -2,370 0,019

Rent an apartment -0,038 0,096 -0,400 0,691

Other (place of

residence) -0,148 0,115 -1,280 0,201

Labor intensity -0,108 0,099 -1,090 0,278

Mathematics (dummy) 0,316* 0,157 2,010 0,045

Mother tongue

(dummy)-0,200 0,126 -1,590 0,113

The average grade in

high school0,012 0,043 0,280 0,780

Constant 7,048 0,287 24,590 0,000*statistically significant at 0,05

Source: Authors’ calculations

Statistical tests

Gender Average

Female 7,53

Male 7,10Source: Authors’ calculations

Table Average student grades

• Mann-Whitney test p<0.05 significant difference in average

CONCLUSION

• Our model proves that variables such as attendance, mode of study, physicalactivity, parental education, place of residence during study, mode of learningschedule, influence average grade during study.

• Variables such as gender were not significant for our model, however, using anon-parametric test, we proved that there was a significant difference in theaverage grade of male and female students.

• There is a need to investigate further what influences success during study, andother factors not covered in this study.

THANK YOU!

Ajla ŠušićUniversity of Sarajevo

School of Economics and BusinessPhone: +38762737501

E-mail: ajla.susic@outlook.com