The Effect of Attendance on Academic Performance

Faculty in higher education institutions oftentimes follow different attendance practices and policies: some make it compulsory and count toward the final grade while others do not. Even when attendance is not compulsory, many faculty believe in its positive effect in academic performance. In this article a summary of the latest studies on attendance and academic performance will be given along with a deeper analysis of this relation in Albanian context. Data are collected from two courses in the civil engineering department of a private university taught by the same lecturer during 2009-2012. The results of the study are discussed in the light of the attendance policy enforced in today's Albanian higher education institutions. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p96