The performance of the Science Foundation Programme (SFP) graduates in their 1st year of the degree programmes at UNAM from 2005 to 2016

Abstract

This study investigated the performance of the SFP graduates in their 1st year of the degree programmes at UNAM from 2005 to 2016. The study used a quantitative research design. The population of the study consisted of the 1298 former students who had gone through the UNAM SFP from 2005 to 2016 at the Oshakati campus. The data were conveniently collected through document analysis from a sample of 128 former SFP students who went through the SFP at UNAM Oshakati Campus from 2005 to 2016. The researchers also analysed the University of Namibia Integrated Tertiary System (ITS) database to extract student data to find out how many former SFP students had registered for degree courses; and also to find out the performance of these students in their courses of study at UNAM. Data mining techniques were used to analyse the data from the respondents. Descriptive statistics, i.e., frequency tables were used to analyse the data on the performance of the SFP graduates in the 1st year degree programmes at UNAM. The findings of the study showed that since the establishment of the SFP in 2005 at the Oshakati campus the SFP has been growing and attracting more students within Namibia. Further, more than half of the former SFP students had enrolled into UNAM degree or diploma programmes from 2006 to 2016. The findings also indicated that the SFP was meeting its mandate and achieving its goal and objectives of preparing students for the first year of their studies at tertiary institutions. The study recommends that further research be carried out to compare the performance of SFP students at UNAM and the direct entry Grade 12 students into university degree programmes, further a longitudinal study should be carried out to shed light on the performance of SFP graduates throughout their studies: from first year to their final year of studies.