The Determinants of Students' Tertiary Academic Success

Many factors influence students’ academic performance at university, including their prior academic ability, level of wealth and demographic traits. The characteristics of the secondary school attended by students also play an important role in influencing their university outcomes. This paper considers the determinants of grades for students at a large Australian university. Using both first- and second-generation approaches to modelling the determinants of academic success, it finds that university grades are largely influenced by students’ university entrance scores. Schools also appear to affect academic performance at university.