Publication
Examining the linkage between class attendance at university and academic performance in an International Branch Campus setting
Link to the Open Access Article
What is it about?
Abstract of our Journal Article: The relationship between class attendance and academic performance has been an important area of research, with a positive association being posited between the two. The setting for our study is an International Branch Campus (IBC) of a British university that needs to demonstrate the quality of its service delivery both to the parent institution and to the fee-paying students. We employ a dataset of over 900 students in an undergraduate degree programme and subject it to statistical techniques, namely quantile regression and two-stage quantile regression. Our results show that attendance has a beneficial influence on academic performance and this benefit persists at higher percentile of grades. We propose that IBCs could consider an attendance policy that encourages students to attend classes.
Why is it important?
Students have to make a significant effort (time, opportunity cost, etc) to attend scheduled learning activities at University. Faculty have to similarly make a significant effort (teaching & learning strategies) to make scheduled learning activities engaging enough for students to attend. My colleagues and I have tried to answer an important question around whether attendance actually matters (spoiler alert: it does matter!).
