Page 181 - Secondary school students’ university readiness and their transition to university Els van Rooij

Chapter 7
Abstract
Considering the pivotal role of academic adjustment for student success in university, it is important to gain insight into how motivational and behavioural factors a ect academic adjustment, and the extent to which academic adjustment in uences student success. is study of rst-year university students investigated how intrinsic academic motivation, academic self-e cacy, self-regulated study behaviour, and satisfaction with the chosen degree programme in uenced academic adjustment and how these variables and adjustment a ected grade point average (GPA), attained number of credits (EC), and intention to persist. Structural equation modelling showed that academic adjustment was in uenced by academic motivation, self-regulated study behaviour, and degree programme satisfaction, which together explained 72% of the variance in academic adjustment. Motivational and behavioural variables in uenced GPA and credits indirectly through academic adjustment. Satisfaction with the degree programme predicted intention to persist. ese results point to the importance of academic adjustment in predicting university GPA and credits and the pivotal role of satisfaction with the degree programme in predicting intention to persist. Universities could integrate the development of self-regulated study skills – the biggest contributor to academic adjustment – in the rst-year programme. Moreover, looking at the importance of students’ satisfaction with the programme, communication and collaboration between secondary schools and universities should be enhanced in order to help students to choose a university degree programme that matches their abilities, interests, and values.
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