Hunter, Gordon, Davis, Mastaneh and Ruvinga, Stenford (2018) A statistical study of "attainment gaps" (and their possible causes) in undergraduate students' performance and progression in mathematical degree courses at a post-1992 UK university. In: CETL-MSOR 2018 : Evidencing Excellence in the Mathematical Sciences; 05 - 06 Sep 2018, Glasgow, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Abstract

Previous research (e.g. ECU (2008)) has indicated an “attainment gap” in academic performance and progression between certain groups of students in Higher Education in the UK. Even when factors such as socio-economic background and pre-University attainment levels have been controlled, Black, Asian and other Minority Ethnic (BAME) students tend to achieve lower grades than their White peers. In some disciplines (notably some science subjects), there is also a marked gap between genders. A previous project at Kingston (2015) indicated that the performance of STEM students at one level of their HE studies correlated significantly and positively with their performance at later levels. However, the regression coefficients (notably the slope) relating their grades at different levels varied considerably between subject disciplines, and subject-specific simple regression only explained a modest proportion of inter-person variation. However, that study did not take any account of students’ individual attributes, e.g. age, gender, ethnicity, socio-economic background. In this paper, although focusing on the progression and performance of Mathematics degree students at Kingston, we extend the previous project by taking such additional factors into account, to investigate how students from different backgrounds and of different genders and ethnicities perform at different levels of their degree studies. In the first year of their higher education studies, female students of mathematics actually performed slightly better on average than their male peers, and BAME students slightly better than while students, although neither of those differences was statistically significant. Noting that BAME students are more likely to continue living at home during their studies, and thus possibly have long commutes to University, we hypothesised that this could negatively affect their attendance at classes, and hence possibly have a detrimental effect on their academic performance. A student’s average first year module mark proved to be highly significantly correlated with their attendance rate (R = 0.486, df = 84, p < 0.001), although there was substantial variation between students with similar attendance rates. The picture was somewhat different for students in the second and third years of their degrees. Students’ mean marks in their second and third years were significantly and positively correlated with their mean marks in earlier years. Unfortunately, however, no complete or representative information on their attendance rates was available. Nevertheless, use of multivariate (multiple linear regression and logistic regression) and multi-level regression models have yielded “all else being equal” results, indicating that BAME students typically achieve marks around 3% lower on average than those of their white peers, and older students tend to perform less well than younger ones. Similarly, there are lower proportions of BAME and older students achieving “good” (First and Upper Second Class Honours) grades in their final degree. We are also investigating the influence of students’ socio-economic backgrounds and entry qualifications on their performance at University, and the influence of all these factors on student progression and attainment of “good” (First or Upper Second Class Honours) final degrees. These results could be of considerable value for monitoring and addressing the BAME and gender attainment gaps at Kingston University and elsewhere, and to identifying and rectifying the origins of the problem.

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