Query: A descriptive study to assess the factors affecting the academic performance  of undergraduate students

title: Prevalence of Psychiatric Morbidity Among Undergraduate Students of a Dental College in West Bengal.
abstract: Stresses of medical course affects the academic performance as well as physical and psychological health of the students negatively. In the present day scenario every one of us has vulnerability to have psychiatric morbidity. Like other young adults, undergraduate dental students are similarly vulnerable to turmoil due to academic and social stresses, which often hamper the educational achievement. Early detection and treatment of psychological morbidities shorten the suffering leading to less social impairment in long term.  The aim of this study was to assess the psychiatric morbidity of dental students and the factors affecting their mental health.  This cross sectional, descriptive and correlation study was conducted in North Bengal Dental College, a rural dental college of West Bengal, India.  The study sample consisted of a total of 89 dental students. The student enrollment was done by "simple random sampling method" The semi structured proforma and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) 28 were used to collect data and to assess the psychiatric morbidity. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Pearson's correlation followed by multivariate linear regression analysis was done to assess the effect of academic achievement, positive and negative event on the GHQ total score.  The overall mean GHQ total score in the study population was 5.33, with a SD of 4.85 which was above the cutoff >4) score. Karl Pearson correlation co efficient r values for GHQ total score with 'academic achievement' and 'negative events' score were 0.718 and 0.628 respectively and p values were 0.001 and 0.001.  The poor academic performance and negative events had strong impact on psychological morbidity of dental students. The findings of our study can't be generalized for all undergraduate dental student due to small sample size and non inclusion of many other variables.

title: Undergraduate Students Experience of Nutrition Education Using the Flipped Classroom Approach: A Descriptive Cohort Study.
abstract: To explore undergraduate students self reported learning experience in a foundation nutrition education course/unit delivered using a flipped classroom approach (FCA) which requires students to complete independent learning before and after interactive in class learning experiences.  A descriptive cohort study design used selected items from a self report flipped classroom student engagement questionnaire to assess Australian undergraduate student (n 105) engagement in the course/unit and compared with nonflipped courses, preference for FCA, academic achievement, learning behaviors for 3 FCA learning phases, and more or less engaging aspects of the course/unit.  Most (66.5% students were engaged or very engaged, with half (55% more engaged in this course/unit compared with other nonflipped courses/units with a preference for the FCA (53% Almost half of the students agreed the FCA improved their academic performance (grade) (45% and other academic skills (ie, teamwork) (48.5% Most student comments related to the value of participate phase activities.  The FCA engaged most students in learning and is an emerging learning and teaching approach appropriate for undergraduate nutrition dietetic education.

title: Factors Affecting Performance of Undergraduate Students in Construction Related Disciplines
abstract: Academic performance of students in Nigerian institutions has been of much concern to all and sundry hence the need to assess the factors affecting performance of undergraduate students in construction related discipline in Nigeria. A survey design was employed with questionnaires administered on students in the department of Quantity Surveying, Estate Management, Architecture and Industrial Design in Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria, using a convenient sampling approach. Data were analyzed using percentage, frequency, mean item score and Kruskal Wallis test. The study revealed that parents and lecturers have the highest influence on the success of undergraduate students in construction related disciplines in Nigerian while school board members have the lesser impact. Concentration, lack of reading habit and class size are the major identified factors affecting the performance of undergraduates while Cumulative Grade Point Average and Continuous Assessment and Examination are the best means of measuring student success. The study therefore recommend that parents and lecturers should be made aware of their roles in the success of their wards while necessary facilities in term of accommodation and serene environment on campus should be provided for students as this will enhance students' concentration, hence increasing the rate of students' success.

title: Role of language proficiency and personality traits upon the academic performance of undergraduate medical students
abstract: Academic performance of medical students is governed by various factors. Personality traits such as core self evaluation (CSE) and locus of control (LOC) are a few of the most important factors that could govern academic performance. The medium of communication is another important factor, especially in a country with language diversity that could affect the academic performance of the new medical entrants. The study aims to examine the effect of LOC, CSE score, and English Language proficiency on the academic performance of undergraduate medical students.  Ninety undergraduate medical students of a premier central government medical institute of India has been recruited for the study after due ethical clearance from the Institutional Ethical Committee. A standard questionnaire for all the parameters to be studied had been filled by the participants. The academic performance has been judged on the basis of the professional examination's marks score.  The multiple regression analysis considering all the variables, the English language proficiency appears to be the most important factor with R2 0.106 and P 0.003. Most of the academic performers have shown the dominance of internal LOC and moderately high CSE scores though not statistically significant.  Language proficiency appears to be one of the most important determinants of academic performance in the medical entrants of Indian subcontinent. LOC and CSE could be an important yardstick for academic performance, but that needs to be confirmed with another study with a bigger data set.

title: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING THE MALE AND FEMALE STUDENTS' ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION (A CASE OF GOVERNMENT COLLEGE UNIVERSITY, LAHORE)
abstract: The gender differences can never be ignored in any society or community in all fields of life. Similarly, Academic performance in higher education may also be influenced by gender according to the demographic behaviour and personal attitude of the students towards studies. The objective of this study is to investigate the possible differences in gender wise academic performance in higher education. A sample of 285 students was selected from Government College University, Lahore and the requisite information was collected through a questionnaire which was developed for this purpose. The reliability of the instrument/questionnaire was measured by Cronbach Alpha. Descriptive and inferential measures were used to explain the factors affecting the students' academic performance. Furthermore, the levene's and t tests are used for inferential analysis. The software SPSS (Version 16) was used for the data analysis. The Levene's test suggested that the variances of both male and female students' performance were equal with F 2.16 at p value=0.143 and pooled t test analysis has suggested that the average percentage marks of male and female students' are significantly different with t 2.206 having p value= 0.028. The averages of the performance of male and female students were 72.12 and 74.54, respectively.

title: Factors Affecting Academic Performance of Undergraduate Students at International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC) Bangladesh
abstract: This study was conducted to examine different factors influencing socio economic background and the academic performance of undergraduate students enrolled at International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC) with a view to assessing their individual performances and improvements. The assessment covers comparative achievements of different faculties of IIUC Shariah Islamic Studies, Business Administration, Science Engineering, Arts &Humanities and Laws. The data were collected from 200 undergraduate students from different faculties of International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC) through separate structured questionnaire using the simple random sampling technique. For analysis, simple percentage and linear regression model were run to evaluate comparative importance of the factors. The result shows that over all CGPA of IIUC student is 3.25 (Out of 4.00) Regression results of academic performance of students have varied from faculty to faculty. The result also reveals that age, gender, past academic track, medium of education and absence in the classes have also influenced the academic performances of a student. The study has covered the period of academic year Autumn 2013 to Spring 2014.  Socio economic Background, Regression, Faculties, IIUC, Bangladesh.

title: Factors Affecting the Performance of Undergraduate Medical Students: A Perspective
abstract: Performance of medical students in developing nations like India is perceived to have largely declined.  We attempted to assess the reasons behind such trends.  Students in their third year of medical study were given a predesigned, pretested structured and validated questionnaire that they filled in anonymously. The key areas assessed were concentration, interest and understanding of the subject and other perceived causes of poor performance. Tests for descriptive statistics were applied for evaluation.  One hundred and fifty students participated in the study. Fifty five (36.66% students performed poorly. Male gender, inability to clear the previous professional examination at the first attempt, difficulty in understanding medium of instruction, self assessed depression, sleep disorders and perceived parental and peer pressure and dissatisfaction with career choice were significantly linked with poor performance (P<0.05 for each factor) Socioeconomic status and regularity in class were not linked to academic performance.

title: Entrepreneurial interest and academic performance in Nigeria: evidence from undergraduate students in the University of Ibadan
abstract: Entrepreneurial interest among the youth population is a panacea for unemployment especially due to high turnout of educated individuals in the labour force. This paper provides findings on the factors that determine entrepreneurship interest among the youth population in Nigeria using the University of Ibadan as a case study. Empirical results on whether engagement in entrepreneurial activities interferes with academic performance; extent of involvement and gender differences are also presented. The logit and multinomial logit models were used to examine the factors that influence entrepreneurship interest and interference with academic performance, respectively. Descriptive statistics and the T test were employed in examining the extent of involvement and whether there is a statistically significant difference across gender. The results showed that subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and family business background significantly predicts students' interest in entrepreneurship. Engagement in entrepreneurial activity has no significant effect on students' academic performance. Findings suggest relatively low entrepreneurial engagement among students with significant differences across gender.

title: Relationship between internet addiction and academic performance of undergraduate medical students of Azad Kashmir
abstract: To assess the relationship between internet addiction (IA) and academic performance among the medical students of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan.  A cross sectional study was done involving 316 medical students of Poonch Medical College, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan from May 2018 to November 2018. Dr. Young's Internet Addiction Test questionnaire was used as the tool of data collection. The questionnaire contained twenty 5 points Likert scale questions to assess internet addiction. IA score was calculated and the association between IA and academic performance was observed by Spearman Rank Correlation test. Relationship between baseline characteristics of the medical students and IA was also seen.  Eighty nine (28.2% medical students fell under the category of 'severe addiction' and most importantly only 3 (0.9% were not internet addicted according to Dr. Young's questionnaire. Internet addicted medical students scored significantly poor in their exams (p. .001) One hundred thirty one (41.4% students with a median IA score of 45 scored in the range of 61 70% marks as compared to 3 (0.9% students with a median IA score of 5, secured greater than 80% marks.  This study and many other previous studies have revealed that internet addiction affects academic performance. The number of internet users is ever increasing therefore, the number of internet misusers will also increase. If no step is taken to control internet addiction, it may cause a serious impact in the future.

title: Increasing throughput: factors affecting the academic performance of entry level undergraduate taxation students at an ODL institution in South Africa
abstract: In this article, the academic performance of undergraduate taxation students at a South African open and distance learning (ODL) tertiary institution is analysed. The analysis was conducted on various exogenous and endogenous factors which impact on academic performance. The factors included in the study were identified on the basis of national and international studies in the field in question and related fields of study. Statistical analysis was performed to identify whether the selected factors had a statistically significant impact on students' performance. With the exception of gender, all of the following factors had a statistically significant impact on students' academic performance: employment status, language, current and previous academic performance, status of residential area, age and access to technology. Although some of the exogenous factors identified cannot be specifically addressed in an academic programme, the results of the study are used to make several recommendations to assist students and lecturers to improve the throughput rate of taxation students.