Academic Performance of Freshmen Maritime Students: Perspective for Policy Formulation on Student’s Development

One significant component to assure quality education is formulation of policies aimed on Student’ development. The academic performance of the students may also serve as an evaluation of the quality of education which the institution offers to the students. The study aimed to determine the academic performance of Freshmen Maritime students when grouped according to educational background. It further examined the differences in their performance in the technical courses, general education courses and aptitude for the service. Using percentage, mean and t-test, data are analyzed. Based on the semestral report on grades, the freshmen performed good in the professional subjects and performed very good in both general education courses and aptitude for the service. Further, there is no significant difference between academic performance of those without college background and with college background in the professional and general education courses but those with college background performed better in the aptitude for the service. The result suggests that the administration may explore the possibility of considering crediting the units earned by the students with college background. They should venture on the acquisition of more technical laboratory equipment such as simulators to increase the student’s enthusiasm in the professional courses. Also, the school needs to improve its instruction and assessment on the aptitude for the service.

Keywords – Academic performance, maritime, policy formulation, student development, Philippines