Accreditation of prior experiential learning and democratisation of education: empirical evidence using multiple regression analysis
Access to education is still a worldwide problem due to various inequalities. The Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) introduced the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) mechanism which enables individuals who have work experience but lack in formal academic qualifications to pur...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Published: |
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://library.oum.edu.my/repository/1174/1/library-document-1174.pdf http://library.oum.edu.my/repository/1174/ |
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| Institution: | Open University Malaysia |
| Summary: | Access to education is still a worldwide problem due to various inequalities. The
Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) introduced the Accreditation of Prior
Experiential Learning (APEL) mechanism which enables individuals who have work
experience but lack in formal academic qualifications to pursue their studies at higher
educational institutions. APEL Centre is an approved assessment centre for MQA. The
main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between service quality
provided by APEL Centre, awareness on APEL and democratisation of education.
A literature review to build the research instrument. Survey questionnaires were
administered and a total of 168 were usable responses from Open University Malaysia
(OUM). Face-to-face data collection procedure was adopted. A total of 63% of the
respondents were aware of the entry requirements using APEL whereas 27% needed
more clarification. The candidates who obtained the services from APEL Centre were
interested to gain admission in Diploma (3%), Degree (58%) and Master (39%)
programmes in Malaysia. The data collected were cleaned and issues related to data
normality (Kurtosis < 3.00; Skewness < 1.00) were primarily resolved. The Cronbach
Alpha for service quality of APEL Centre (a = 0.97), awareness on APEL (a = 0.94)
and democratisation of education (a = 0.96) were far above acceptable. The reported R
square (0.54) indicated goodness of fit of the total regression model. Service quality
provided by APEL Centre (p = 0.01) and awareness on APEL (p = 0.02) were both
significant variables when examined against democratisation of education in OUM.
The empirical evidence given clearly implies that APEL can help increase access to
education. The role of informal and non-formal education can heighten global
citizenship of the candidates. Future researchers are recommended to validate the
existing measurement by performing confirmatory factor analysis and qualitative
interviews to narrow the methodological gap available. (Abstract by authors) |
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