A STRATEGY FOR HEIGHTENING PASS RATES AT BSC HONOURS OF STATISTICS

The studies in the Bachelor of Science Honours (BSc Hons) in the subject Statistics (Stats) have become intense in terms of Math conceptual knowledge and application into the concepts of Stats. In the job market, competition is high. In South Africa, the job market appreciates historical higher education institutions, and usually the ‘white’ history. Thus, newer universities struggle when they sell their graduates. Though top students from these universities are more easily employed, graduates with low grades do not make the cut-off limit. A problem that inspired this study was when a group of BSc Honours of the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) were performing lower than the previous groups. An intervention was necessary to improve the performance in this, and the subsequent groups. Certain measures were proposed on the student conduct and behaviour, which were built into the administration of the BSc Hons learning and teaching. These measures also allow lecturers involved in teaching these groups to continuously stimulate the teaching, monitor and evaluate progress as well as continuously assessing these students.