The impact of raising students' risk awareness in Introductory Microeconomics

Abstract

Higher education institutions, internationally and in the South African context, devise various strategies to address concerns regarding higher education's 'revolving door'. These strategies range from extensive testing prior to registration in order to establish students' deficiencies and place them on extended programmes (if necessary), to extra classes, tutorials and extensive (and often costly) student support programmes. This article reports on a pilot strategy to increase student success by making students aware of their risk of failure in the specific context of the module Introductory Microeconomics, offered on first-year level at the University of South Africa (Unisa). This is a compulsory module for a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Accountancy or Bachelor of Administration degree. Success or failure in Introductory Microeconomics directly impacts on the number of years students take to complete their degrees, and eventually on Unisa's throughput subsidy. Students were invited to complete a short questionnaire in order to self-assess their risk profile. They were requested to return their final calculations, including an assessment of whether determining their risk profile had assisted them. Although the researchers found that some students miscalculated their scores, the research validated the ability of the questionnaire to distinguish between students with various probabilities of successfully completing the module. The majority of students indicated that completing the questionnaire assisted them in preparing for the examinations.