Graduate student selection: graduate record examination, socioeconomic status, and undergraduate grade point average as predictors of study success in a western European University

Graduate students' mobility has increased within Europe. Yet, empirical evidence on the validity of standardized admission tests in Europe is still scarce. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the incremental validity of the GRE (R) revised general test above undergraduate grade point average (U-GPA) by focusing on a multinational sample of master students (N=282) enrolled at a Dutch university. Results indicated that the Analytical Writing part of the GRE predicts graduate grade point average above and beyond U-GPA. Furthermore, the results suggest that the relationship is independent of students' socioeconomic status as indexed by parental education. Implications for graduate student selection in a European context are discussed

Higher education in Indonesia: Contemporary challenges in governance, access, and quality

This chapter presents the development of Indonesian higher education since its origins to current challenges in the fields of governance, autonomy, access, equity, quality, and internationalization. Indonesia has a massive and diversified tertiary education, including experiments in community colleges and online programs. The higher educational system remains mainly centralized, with the exception of some reforms towards financial autonomy. Insufficient public funding hinders the capacity to provide adequate teaching, research, and facilities among other aspects. The consequential rise in student fees contributes to an overrepresentation of students from Java, urban centers, and higher social classes

Aberrant personality tendencies and academic success throughout engineering education

Objective: In a longitudinal field study, we investigated the predictive associations between six aberrant personality tendencies (schizotypal, avoidant, borderline, antisocial, narcissistic, obsessive‐compulsive) and academic success of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students. Method: Bachelor students of Industrial Engineering at a Dutch technical university (N = 432, Mage = 18.45; 87.3% male) filled out the NEO‐PI‐R and aberrant tendencies were operationalized by the five‐factor model (FFM) compound technique. Indicators of academic achievement (grades) and persistence (credit points earned per year, re‐enrollment, study duration) were made available by the academic office. Results: Validities across the 3 years of the study program consistently support the role of two aberrant tendencies: Individuals with high antisocial tendency reached lower academic achievement, took longer to finish their study, and had a higher risk of dropout. The obsessive‐compulsive tendency was associated with higher grade‐point average, faster study progress, and higher retention rates and effects were still visible while controlling for known predictors (high school grades, Conscientiousness). Contrary to our expectations, we found no evidence for inverted U‐shaped relationships. Conclusions: We used the compound technique for aberrant tendencies based on the FFM in the academic context and our findings support the importance of personality‐based psychopathological tendencies for academic success

Current developments in bilingual primary education in the Netherlands

This contribution addresses two studies of the processes and outcomes of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Dutch primary education. Firstly, this article describes a preliminary study of the learning outcomes at the end of primary education, comparing pupils’ language proficiency after either two years or six to eight years of low-intensity EFL programs. Secondly, it describes the outcomes of a subsequent classroom observation study in a high-intensity bilingual primary education pilot in grade 1, focusing on teacher language use and teacher-pupil interaction. Results are related to learning outcome in terms of pupils’ receptive vocabulary knowledge. Conclusions focus on foreign language teaching in primary education in general, and bilingual primary education in particular