Determinants of students academic performance the case of mekong river data

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICSHO CHI MINH CITY VIETNAM ERASMUS UNVERSITY ROTTERDAM INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES THE NETHERLANDS VIETNAM – THE NETHERLANDS PROGRAMME FOR M.A IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMI

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS

HO CHI MINH CITY

VIETNAM

ERASMUS UNVERSITY ROTTERDAM INSTITUTE

OF SOCIAL STUDIES THE NETHERLANDS

VIETNAM – THE NETHERLANDS PROGRAMME FOR M.A IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS

DETERMINANTS OF STUDENT’S

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE:

THE CASE OF MEKONG RIVER DELTA

BY

TRAN CHI NGUYEN

MASTER OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS

HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER 2016

UNIVERSITY OF

ECONOMICS

HO CHI MINH CITY

INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES

THE HAGUE

VIETNAM - NETHERLANDS PROGRAMME FOR M.A IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS

DETERMINANTS OF STUDENT’S ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE:

THE CASE OF MEKONG RIVER DELTA

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements

for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT

ECONOMICS

By

TRAN CHI NGUYEN

Academic Supervisor:

DR PHAM KHANH NAM

HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER 2016

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This is to guarantee that the complete contents of this thesis(Determinants of student’s academic performance: The case ofMekong River Delta) which are drafted by me and the thesisincludes my knowledge and my literature reviews This thesis hasnot already been submitted for any degree and it only submitted foronly for degree of Master of Art in Development Economic toVietnam - The Netherlands Program I take full responsibility for thewhole contents that I wrote

TRAN CHI NGUYEN

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I would to thank the dedicated assistance and supports of mysupervisor, Dr PHẠM KHÁNH NAM, during thesis time The valuablecomments and advices play a key role in order to help to finish mythesis

Besides, I sincerely thank all lecturers - officers in Vietnam –Netherlands Program, especially Prof NGUYỄN TRỌNG HOÀI and Dr.TRƯƠNG ĐĂNG THỤY, for their dedicated instruction, for all theknowledge from lectures and the supporting for my thesis during thecourse

I also would like to thank my classmates, especially Mr ĐẠT ANH, and my friend Ms

THIÊN KIM, who has helped and supported me to complete my work.Finally, I wish lecturer team all the best and hope they will achievemany success in future path

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GSO: General statistics offices

UNESCO: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

OLS: Ordinary Least Square

VIF: Variance Inflation Factor

EPF: Education Production Function

VHLSS: Vietnamese Household Living Standard Survey

GPA: Grade Point Average

This paper focus on examines factors that influence studentacademic performance in Mekong River Delta, Vietnam Basing on asurvey that is conducted by the author in 2015, 297 students of CanTho University have filtered to examine The Education productionfunction of Bowles is applied and identified by a model includeseight variables, which are related academic performance of student.The OLS estimation results show that 5 out of 8 variables are chosenhave significant influence on learning outcomes of student and therest variables have no significant effect on student academicperformance in this study Hence, from the estimation results of thisthesis, the suitable policies will be suggested in order to improvelearning outcomes of student who experienced under performancegroup

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TABLE CONTENTS

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Problem statements 1

1.2 Research objectives 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.5 Research scope 3

1.6 Structure of the thesis 4

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEWS 5

2.1 Review of key concepts 5

2.2Review of theory 6

2.3Review of Empirical studies 8

2.3.1 Effect of family backgrounds on student academic performance. 8

2.3.2 Effect of demographic factors on student academic performance

11 2.3.3 Effect of geographic factors on student academic performance

13 2.3.4 Effect of self-motivation of student on their academic performance

14 2.4Conceptual framework 15

CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

16

3.1 Model specification

16

3.1.1 Model specification

16

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3.1.2 Measurement of variables

17

3.1.2.1 The dependent variable

17

3.1.2.2 The independent variables

18

3.1.3 Regression models

22

3.2 Data

24

3.2.1 Data source

24

3.2.2 Sampling strategy

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CHAPTER IV: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.2 Data description

27

4.3 Regression results

33

4.3.1 Results

4.3.2 Test

37

4.3.2.1 Testing for goodness of fit

38

4.3.2.2 Testing for Heteroscedasticity

38

4.3.2.3 Testing for multicollinearity

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4.3.2.4 Testing for normality

40

4.4 Discussion

41

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

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5.1 Conclusion

43

5.2 Policy implications

44

5.3 Research limitations and suggestion for further studies

45

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Appendix 1: Matrix of correlation between variables

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Appendix 2: Wald’s test of overall significant of the model

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Appendix 3: Heteroscedasticity test

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Appendix 4: Multicollinearity test

55

Appendix 5: Skewness/Kurtosis test of residuals and National exam score

55

Appendix 6: PCA result

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Appendix 7: OLS estimation result

57

Appendix 8: Questionnaire

58

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Table 4.1: The observation proportion by provinces

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Table 4.2: Statistical description of factors on student academic performance

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Table 4.3: Correlation of dependent variable and independent variables

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Table 4.4: Regression result of OLS estimation

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Table 4.5: Result of Wald’s test

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Table 4.6: Result of Breusch-Pagan / Cook-Weisberg test

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Table 4.7: Result of Multicollinearity test

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Table 4.8: Result of Skewness/Kurtosis test for exam score

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Table 4.9: Result of Skewness/Kurtosis test for residual

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Conceptual framework of the study

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Figure 4.1: Distribution of student’s score

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Figure 4.2: Relationship of gender and learning outcomes of student 30

Figure 4.3: Relationship between health and learning outcomes of student

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Figure 4.4: Relationship between geography and learning outcomes

of student

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CHAPTER I:

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the current situation of Vietnam education system isintroduced in brief and based on information that the importanceand the essential of this study will be mentioned Besides, there aresome other crucial parts will be presented such as problemstatement, research objectives, research questions, researchhypothesis, research scope and organization of the research

1.1 Problem statements

Nowadays, at macro level, education help a country to strengthenthe human resource of the economy and occupies a very importantrole in the development of a country Besides, at micro level,education has long been perceived as a main factor help people toget the job, to get wealthy and promote earning of individual andfamily In the nineteenth century, it is generally believed that there

is nothing can do about what education cannot do Recently, manyresearchers declared education plays an important role in theeconomy of every nation around the world Especially, developingcountries such as Vietnam schools regarded as main element in theinfrastructure The problem here is the determinant of studentperformance In general, people think that student outcomes areaffected by intelligent, environment, effort, etc

In development economics, beside the sustainable developmentgoals, education and health are two importance problems due to theinfluence of them in the long term The average education level ofthe society represents the level of development and achievements

as well as the future prospects A community with high educationallevel will be more favorable to improve living standard and based onthat the national economy is also benefited Besides, enhancingintellectual level of the people, well-trained labor plus advancedtechnology will help any countries to improve their productivity inboth short term and long term

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From the very beginning step, education is an essential part ofhuman life; hence, the exact measurement of children's learningability is very important The evaluation demonstrates ability,cognitive level and reaction of children Base on that, schools andparents can make the right decision for each child in order tomaximum the limited human resource Another aspect, childrenlearning ability also illustrates the advanced and efficient level ofeducation system relied on those policy makers can applyreasonable policies.

Vietnam and the people of Vietnam was recognized the essentialrole of education to the country Hence, the government has made avery strong push for the improvement of this field According to Le(2003), from 1991 to 2003, he mentioned that more than 120tertiary institutions was built and this education field encounteredhighest growth rate in the last 10 year In the same period, Pham(2002) discovered that the number of student who studiedpostsecondary raised approximately six times In addition, theamount of student who studying upper secondary in Mekong riverdelta is about 377.099 students

There are some researchers focus on the determinant of educationachievement in Vietnam In particular, Le (2000) has determined thefactors of Vietnam's secondary education and he found that there is

a difference in the enrollment rate between males and femalestudents at upper secondary level Moreover, Le (2003) using thedata of batch 26 students of HCMC University of Economics, heexamined the factors between urban and rural students whostudying in HCM University of Economics, the result shows thatthere is a gap between provincial and city students

Mekong River Delta has long been perceived as a remote region, thegeographic location of Mekong Delta has many rivers and canalsand the infrastructure, road system is underdeveloped whichcreates an obstacle for student to access to school Moreover, the

youth literacy rate of Mekong River Delta is the third lowest incomparison with other regions in Vietnam and this rate is 0.80percentage points lower than National youth literacy rate The adultliteracy rate in Mekong Delta is

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83.10 percent and it is about 6 percentage points lower than theNational rate Therefore, more attentions should be paid for the loweducation level region such as Mekong River Delta.

In fact, there are a few researches examine about the case ofMekong River Delta This thesis is the first research which examinesthe influence of the determinants on the individual student’sacademic performance with the dependent variable is the individualscore of students from National High School Graduation Examination

in 2015 for the Mekong River Delta

In brief, the intellectual level of people in Mekong River Delta isquite low in comparison with the whole country A large part ofpopulation still living in the countryside, and the accessibility toeducation is very limited Therefore, the researches is about solvingthe education problems in Mekong River Delta is very necessary.Hence, a method in order to identify determinants of studentacademic performance and the magnitude of the influence of thosefactors will be necessary This study will propose determinantfactors which influence the student academic performance and base

on that, the policy recommendations will be suggested to policymakers in order to have suitable policies Especially for developingcountry like Vietnam where the middle-income trap is becomingnational problem

1.2 Research Objectives

There are two key research objectives of this paper:

(1) To examine the determinants of student’s performance

(2) To give policy implications to enhance student academic

performance

1.3 Research Questions

In order to match the objectives in the section above, this study must concentrate on these questions:

(1) What are the determinants of student’s academic

performance?

(2) Do these determinants affect academic performance of

student?

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1.4 Research scope

The scope of this research is Mekong River Delta of Vietnam,including 12 provinces An Giang, Bac Lieu, Ben Tre, Ca Mau, CanTho, Dong Thap, Hau Giang, Kien Giang, Soc Trang, Tien Giang, TraVinh, Vinh Long All statistic and data in this study are collected from

a survey of the author at Can Tho University in 2015

1.5 Structure of the thesis

This study contains five chapters:

Chapter 1 is the introduction part of this study, which mentionsabout background and foundation of this study Chapter 2 providesfundamental definition about learning outcomes, theoretical reviewsand some empirical studies relevant to determinants of studentacademic performance Moreover, there is also a recap table ofliterature reviews and analytical framework the end of chapter two.Chapter 3 will present the methodology, data and regression modelfor this study

Chapter 4 contains the data descriptive statistics and regressionresult of this study Conclusion of chapter 4 Chapter 5 base on theregression result in chapter 4 and gives a recap of estimation result.Make recommendation to policy maker on main findings of thethesis then points out thesis limitations and suggestion for furtherresearch

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CHAPTER II:

LITERATURE REVIEWS

This chapter contains the literatures about theoretical, analyticaland relevant empirical researches on learning outcomes of students.This chapter first begins with some basic definitions about learningoutcomes of student Then, the second part introduces the maintheory on education achievement, which applied for this study Thelast part presents the review of empirical studies about determinant

of learning outcomes and it shows the analytical framework for thisstudy

2.1 Review of key concepts

Before investigate relevant theories, it is essential to look at somedefinitions and key words have connection with the issues,foundation of deeper analysis is to understand about fundamentalnotions clearly

Learning Outcomes

There are several definitions about learning outcomes in the world.These definitions are different because of standpoints and aspects.However, the similarity is learning outcomes are records thatrepresent important and necessary knowledge that learners haveachieved, and accurately display at the end of a process In otherwords, learning outcomes label what knowledge the student will getand can do at the end of a program or course

Suskie (2009) asserts that learning outcomes are objectives thatdemonstrate how learner will be different because of a schooling orleaning experience More precisely, learning outcomes are theability, skills, information, mindset and attitudes that learner willcarry with them from schooling or learning experience

University of Warwick (2011) concludes the definition of learningoutcomes as “The ability, knowledge learners will acquire uponsuccessful completion a process of learning or a course.”

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University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technologydefines “learning outcomes are the acquisition of person'sunderstanding, ability, knowledge or mindset that is the desiredoutcome of a learning process and will be demonstrate at the end ofthat process or program” (UMIST, 2001).

In a compilation from other resources, Vlãsceanu et al (2004) statesthat student learning outcomes are the statements of what student

is anticipated to figure out, recognize, and/or can explain aftercompleted a learning process as well as peculiar practical orintellectual ability earned and showed by the successful fulfillment

of a program or a course Learning outcomes, along with evaluationcriteria, decide definitely the minimum requirement for the reward

of credit, while the evaluating is based on achievement above orbelow the minimum requirements for the reward of credit Moreover,the learning outcomes are different from the goals of schooling inthat they are involved with the attainments of student rather thanwith the general purposes of teachers

Learning outcomes score

Learning outcomes score is a worldwide-accepted score or astandardized-test score with highly reputation and are most precisecriteria for ranking student

There are many grading systems around the world; each countryuses their own grading system to measure varying levels ofachievement in a course Grades can be assigned as a range (forexample 1 to 10), as letters (typically A, B, C, D, F), or as apercentage of a total number of correct answers and so forth InVietnam, the main grading systems is from 1 to 10 and 10 is thehighest score ("10" - Excellent, "9" - Very good, "8" - Good, "7" -Acceptable, "6-5" - Satisfactory, "4-3-2" - Insufficient, "1" Fail).Typically, the lowest passing grade is 5 and it depends on eachschool

2.2 Review of theory

Educational production function theory

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Historically, the production function was applied as an economicconcept to the field of education and it is called educationalproduction function (EPF) The original idea of educationalproduction function came from Coleman (1996), which had beencarried forward by Bowles (1970) and Hanushek (1986) This EPFhas received a lot of attention because education clearly captures

an important place in every major economy of the world

In general, this function reflects the relationship between factorsaffecting student learning and learning outcomes of student Thesefactors include schools, families, peers, neighborhoods, etc Bowles(1970) notes that this method makes the educational productionprocess is probably become a specific value both in normativeinvestigations and in descriptive studies of human capital formation

to identify optimum educational resources distribution In addition, ifthere are some evidence show that schooling greatly affects laborproductivity or earnings, it is necessary to know how schoolingaffects the development of human cognitive skills and attitudes inschool by tracking those evidences Moreover, a production functionassociating inputs of school to the advancement of productivecapacity can provide a better explanation of why the more educatedthe better certified for productive aspects

According to Hanushek (1986), the most common measure ofschooling in previous studies are years of schooling completed.However, a big problem with this popular measure of outcomes isthat it assumes the same amount of student's achievement, or skillsare produced in a year of schooling This is simply counts the timepeople learn in schools without mentioning what actually happens inschools - therefore, it does provide an incomplete or inaccuratepicture of outcomes

Hanushek (2007) showed the academic achievements of individualstudents is correlated to inputs that both controlled by policymakers (such as the characteristic of schools, curricula, teachers

and so forth) and not under-controlled as friends and families andinnate intellectual abilities and learning capacities of learners.Furthermore, educational process is cumulative, current levels ofattainment affected

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by inputs applied in the past To be more specific, he pointed outthose socio-demographic characteristics such as parental income,education and size of family usually used to identify familybackground of student Peer inputs typically are attainments for aschool (or classroom) or aggregates socio-demographiccharacteristics of students School inputs commonly include teacherbackground, school organization (such as class sizes, administrativeexpenditure, facilities and so forth), and location or communityfactors (e.g., average expenditure levels) Most of empiricalresearches (except Coleman Report) based on data for otherfunctions hence statistical analysis (commonly some form ofregression analysis) is applied to conclude what particularly affectsachievement.

According to Bowles (1970), an educational production function is defined as:

A = f(X1, ,Xm, Xn, ,Xv,Xw, ,Xz)Where:

A = measure of school output – for example, score on a standardized test;

X1,…,Xm = variables determining the school environments (such as

teaching quality, school facilities, and length of timestudent is exposed to these inputs)

Xn,…,Xv = variables representing environmental influences on

learning outside the school ( e.g., the parent’s income,education and so forth)

Xw,…,Xz = variables representing the student’s abilities and the

initial level of learning attained by the student prior toentry into schooling question

2.3 Review of Empirical studies

2.3.1 Effect of family backgrounds on student academic

performance.

There are many literatures have aimed on influence of parentalbackgrounds on their children's outcome, including education.Among varies characteristics of parents,

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parental education and income are two determinant affectsignificant to children's education.

Glick and Sahn (2000) examined the influence of parental educationand income on learning of boys and girls in West Africa, depending

on utility theory, applying binary and ordered probit models.Accordingly, they separate life of family into two stages The firststage is to work and raise their children The second stage is theretirement of parents In the first stage, current income of theparents take responsibility for all the household spending There aretwo kinds of spending at that moment, including spending foreducation expenditure or education of their children and otherconsumption for living The education expenditure, in turn,determines the income levels of household in forthcoming time, thesecond stage when parents retired Thus, parents have to look atthe tradeoff between the two expenditures The result depicted thatrising in household earnings lead to the increasing on educationachievement of girls but none influence on the boy children.Furthermore, they also asserted that the positive significance is notonly the achievement but also displays grade achievement Besides,the research declared that parents' education has positivelyassociation with children learning In specific, the higher parents’education level is, the higher achievement rate of children earns.Moreover, mother occupies a crucial role in the schoolingdetermination of their children Undoubtedly, mother who is lackingeducation or is traditional women likely to forbid their girls takingpart in secondary school

Halle et al (1997) concluded that mother with high level ofeducation tend to have higher expectation on their childrenacademic achievement and these expectations were correlated withbetter performance of children in Math and Reading, using a dataset

of an outnumbered group of families with low-income Similarly,Corwyn and Bradley (2002) declared that maternal education had adirect effect on their children cognitive and learning outcomes

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Similarity, Tansel and Bircal (2006) also pointed out that family withhigh levels of income invest more money for education of theirchildren rather than low-income household.

Another research created by Blanden and Gregg in 2004 verifiedthat the relationship between family income and educationachievement was very close in the United Kingdom and it has beenenhancing over time They also declared that earnings do have acausal effect on educational outcomes Besides, raises 1000$ inannual family income from 2 to 5 years leads to the growth ofstudent achievement by 6% standard deviation (Duncan, Morris andRodrigues, 2011)

Moreover, Hashimoto (1995) asserted that the average incomeelasticity is 1.72; applying OLS model to predict the elasticity ofincome of education in Japan That is, when income increase onepercent, the spending of education will raise one point seventy-twopercent This elasticity is much higher than that of the otherconsumption spending Similarity, Huston (1995) indicate the sameoutcome, which means that when family earnings increases,education spending ratio, which is determined by educationspending over total family spending, is raised

In Vietnam, there is a tight relationship between household earningsand children's education Behrman and Knowles (1999) created thestudy, which aimed at demonstrating the relationship betweeneducational cost, the spending of parents directly paid to school,and income of household Actually, it linked three implications toassess the relationship The implications were the education costdirectly paid to school, school’s quality and quantity of school Theoutcome indicated that there are higher parents’ earnings there ismore money for spends on education Indeed, the elasticity isapproximately 0.65 To be more specific, when households’ earningsraise one percent, the spending on education also increase 0.65