The impact of an academic development programme on students’ academic outcomes at a South African university: an empirical analysis

Abstract

Academic Development Programmes (ADPs) are a distinct category of South African Higher Education that aims to provide alternative access to students who meet the minimum entry requirements for university but not necessarily for the particular academic programme of their choice. Although these programmes have existed for over 30 years, limited rigorous and systematic evaluations of their impact have been conducted. This study examines the effect of one such programme on graduation outcomes at a South African university using logistic regression (LR) and propensity score weighting methods (IPTW). Our sample was restricted to 1852 students who began their studies in 2014, 2015 and 2016. These students were tracked for six years to ensure a realistic graduation period. The results indicate that ADP students had a higher first to second-year progression rate than their regular entry counterparts. Moreover, the results from the descriptive analysis, LR and IPTW collectively suggest a graduation advantage for the ADP students compared to their regular entry counterparts. In other words, the educational interventions provided by the ADP in the first year of university study positively influenced the alternative access students’ academic performance, particularly their graduation rates after four or five years, relative to their mainstream peers.