The academic achievement of graduates from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at the University of Tripoli and its relationship to achievement in secondary school

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the academic achievement levels of graduates from the scientific departments at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, University of Tripoli, and to examine their relationship with students’ prior performance in secondary education. A non-parametric statistical approach was employed after the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test indicated that the achievement data for both university and secondary levels deviate from normal distribution.

Based on these results, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test was used to assess differences between students’ achievement scores across the two educational stages. The findings revealed statistically significant differences in favor of the university level, suggesting that higher education contributes positively to enhancing students’ overall academic performance.

Additionally, the Mann–Whitney U Test was applied to explore the influence of selected demographic variables. The results demonstrated significant differences in university performance attributable to gender, favoring male students, while no significant differences were observed regarding students’ proximity to the university.

The study concludes that university education exerts a positive impact on students’ academic achievement, particularly among males. It further underscores the need to improve the quality of basic and secondary education to strengthen the foundational competencies that support success in higher education.