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The academic experiences of Grade 12 top achievers in maintaining excellence in first-year university programmes

Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016.

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Other Authors: Fraser, William John
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Fraser, William John
author_browse Fraser, William John
author_facet Fraser, William John
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2016 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016.
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:38:53.005Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/56914 The academic experiences of Grade 12 top achievers in maintaining excellence in first-year university programmes Fraser, William John tpmahlangu@mpg.gov.za Mahlangu, Poppy UCTD Academic performance Academic experiences Achievement Top achievers University programmes Attribution theory Education theses SDG-04 Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016. The purpose of this study was to explore, understand and explain the academic performance and experiences of Grade 12 top achievers in first-year university programmes. The study also aimed at exploring the perceptions and expectations of these students with regard to teaching and learning. The study was conducted with 2011 and 2012 matric top ten learners from Mpumalanga province in South Africa. In this study, I used mixed methods research. Accordingly, a questionnaire was administered; this preceded the qualitative part of the study in which I used a standardised, open-ended interview and document analysis. The study subsequently revealed that in their first year at university generally, first-year students experiences and academic performance are important for students transition into university, persistence and academic success. In this study I move from the basic premise that first-year students enter the university (system) with individual characteristics such as self-conception, language proficiency, study skills, socio-cultural orientation and socio-economic backgrounds, as well as attitudes towards academic work. Consequently, the first-year student finds the transition from school to university to be one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish. The study reports on the experiences and academic performance of first-year students at different universities and studying different courses or degrees. One of the major findings of the study is that although some of the participants (top achievers) complained about the lack of support on the part of universities, the results revealed that there was what I call compelling forces at different universities that assisted top achievers/participants in maintaining the momentum in their academic performance. tm2016 bs2026 Science, Mathematics and Technology Education PhD Unrestricted SDG-04: Quality education 2016-09-26T06:58:36Z 2016-09-26T06:58:36Z 2016-08-31 2016 Thesis Mahlangu, P 2016, The academic experiences of Grade 12 top achievers in maintaining excellence in first-year university programmes, PhD Thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/56914> S2016 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/56914 en © 2016 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Academic performance
Academic experiences
Achievement
Top achievers
University programmes
Attribution theory
Education theses SDG-04
The academic experiences of Grade 12 top achievers in maintaining excellence in first-year university programmes
title The academic experiences of Grade 12 top achievers in maintaining excellence in first-year university programmes
title_full The academic experiences of Grade 12 top achievers in maintaining excellence in first-year university programmes
title_fullStr The academic experiences of Grade 12 top achievers in maintaining excellence in first-year university programmes
title_full_unstemmed The academic experiences of Grade 12 top achievers in maintaining excellence in first-year university programmes
title_short The academic experiences of Grade 12 top achievers in maintaining excellence in first-year university programmes
title_sort academic experiences of grade 12 top achievers in maintaining excellence in first year university programmes
topic UCTD
Academic performance
Academic experiences
Achievement
Top achievers
University programmes
Attribution theory
Education theses SDG-04
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/56914