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Journal of Education & Social Sciences - Volume 5, Issue 2 2017
By Maryum Firdous, Saima Masoom Ali
10.20547/jess0521705201
Keywords: Tertiary education, academic, success, ecological model
Working in academic settings is an important area in community psychology and tertiary academia (education after high school) is of marked signicance. Success in tertiary edu- cation is consequential for subsequent life and several factors are involved in it. The aim of this review paper was to analyze these factors within the context of Ecological Model of Dalton, Elias, and Wandersman (2007). To this model, environment has interconnected layers of proximal and distal systems which comprise ve ecological levels of analysis: individuals, microsystem, organi- zations, localities and macrosystem. Specically, the objectives of this study were to analyze the research work done on tertiary academic success factors in the years 2012-2016 at all ecological levels of analysis. Tertiary academic success in these studies has been measured in terms of GPA, grades, percentages, retention in course, completion of degree within time and academic success scales. Analysis of the factors of tertiary academic success at all community levels is needed to cut down attrition rates, improve student retention and help achieve good GPAs. This review highlights that the individual factors have been explored to a larger extent and factors related to other ecological levels are underexplored. It contributes to eld by enhancing the understanding of factors related to tertiary academic success. It may also assist educationists taking practical steps to help students achieve this success. Further theoretical and practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.