Academic Probation: An Empirical Study of Private University Students

Abstract

This study examines the factors contributing to academic probation in university settings and highlights the problems that students encounter in higher education institutions in Bangladesh. The study focused on students facing academic probation on two private universities in Bangladesh and analyzed students' response with respect to nine different factors - difficulty in understanding language, weak communication skills, weak educational background, ‘grading is too difficult’, involvement with other activities, wrong course selection, lack of seriousness in studies, family problem and personal problem. In the survey, the sample consisted of 242 probation students: 80 per cent were male and 20 per cent were female. In this research, results suggest that probation students are more likely to experience academic difficulties, are more prone to drop out and, yet, are more willing to receive institutional assistance (how to return to good academic standing) as compared to other regular students. The authors conclude by discussing policy implications of the findings and defining avenues for further research. One of the shortcomings of this study is the use of private university student samples only. Consequently, the generalization of our results may be limited. The authors developed and instituted a probationary student support initiatives program to both assist these students and understand how their background characteristics and perceptions of the learning environment impacted on their academic standing.