Accreditation Of Prior Experiential Learning As A Catalyst For Malaysian Higher Education: Empirical Evidence On Performance Of Students

• Main Authors: Widad Othman, Mohamad Afzhan Khan Mohamad Khalil, Sharifah Sarina Syed Yusof, Fathin Fakhriah Abdul Aziz
• Format: Article
• Subjects: LC5201 Education extension. Adult education. Continuing education
• Online Access: http://library.oum.edu.my/repository/1235/1/library-document-1235.pdf; http://library.oum.edu.my/repository/1235/
• Institution: Open University Malaysia

There are growing appeals for recognising prior learning in academic institutions. This paper addresses the relationship between demographics, competency and performance of students who enrol through the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning mechanism in Open University Malaysia. A review of literature was conducted to identify empirical gaps. This research contributes in two ways: 1) Adding new theoretical knowledge; and 2) Providing information to stakeholders to aid them in decision-making. One out of four Open University Malaysia students are enrolled through Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning. Records of students who graduated between 2007 and 2017 were used and the sample size of this research is 2,598. The data was generated from the university’s database. The results showed a positive outcome for the first objective where the majority of graduates completed their studies within the time frame of five years. The second objective is to examine the relationship between demographic variables and performance of the students. The relationship between gender (p < 0.05), age (p < 0.05), cluster (p < 0.05), level of learning (p < 0.05), learning centre (p > 0.05) and performance of Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning graduates were reported through multiple regression analysis (R square = 0.42). Majority of students (32%) obtained an average Cumulative Grade Point Average between 3.00-3.66. The results clearly proved that Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning is a catalyst in democratising higher education by giving opportunities to the masses to use their working experience for admission. Six practical implications are given in this paper to promote Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning.