Centre for Higher Education Development, University of Cape Town, South Africa; School of Economics, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Smith, L.C., Centre for Higher Education Development, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Ranchhod, V., School of Economics, University of Cape Town, South Africa
This paper analyses the impact of educational interventions made in the first- and second-year microeconomics courses on academic development students' final mark in the second-year course. It also addresses issues of methodology, specification, and statistical analysis with respect to other studies in the field. The results suggest that the educational interventions in the first-year had a positive impact on the academic performance of the academic development cohort, relative to the mainstream cohort for the first period (2000-2002). The results also suggest that the educational interventions introduced in the second period (2003-2005), in the form of voluntary workshops, improved the academic performance of the academic development and mainstream cohorts. © 2012 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2012 Economic Society of South Africa.