Factors Influencing the Academic Achievement of Students Attending Rajamangala University of Technology Isan

Abstract

The study was designed to investigate factors influencing students' academic achievement at Rajamangala University of Technology Isan. A sample of 349 second, third, and fourth year students during the academic year 1/2014 were selected. The study instrument was a set of self-administered questionnaires containing questions about students' behaviors, the classroom environment and the instructors' teaching method. All these factors were assumed to influence the students' academic achievement. The collected data were analyzed by means and multiple regression analysis using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) under the Best Linear Unbiased Estimator (BLUE). It was found that the students' opinions toward the influencing factors were, holistically, at a very high level ( = 3.61). Their opinions in descending order of degree (mean score) were as follows: the instructors' teaching  methods (= 3.85), the students' behaviors ( = 3.69), and the classroom environment ( =  3.61). The second stage was concerned with the use of multiple regression analysis for data analysis purposes; the statistical significance was set at the 0.05 level. It was found that the response to academic achievement was dependent on the change in behavior of the students. The size of the response was 0.664, indicating a positive relationship. The test on individual aspects of the students' learning behaviors indicated that the response to the academic achievement was largely dependent on the students' learning habits and the way they budgeted their study time. The size of response resulting from the two aspects was 0.260 and 0.240 respectively, indicating a positive relationship.