The Design of Predictive Model for the Academic Performance of Students at University Based on Machine Learning

Students in South African Universities come from different socio-cultural backgrounds, countries and high schools. This suggests that these students have different experiences which impact on their levels of grasping information in class as they potentially use different lenses on tuition. The current practice in Universities in contributing to the academic performance of students includes the use of tutors, the use of mobile devices for first year students, use of student assistants and the use of different feedback measures. What is problematic about the current practice is that students are quitting university in high numbers. In this study, knowledge has been drawn from data through the use of machine learning algorithms. Bayesian networks, support vector machines (SVMs) and decision trees algorithms were used individually in this work to construct predictive models for the academic performance of students. The best model was constructed using SVM and it gave a prediction of 72.87% and a prediction cost of 139. The model does predict the performance of students in advance of the year-end examinations outcome. The results suggest that South African Universities must recognize the diversity in student population and thus provide students with better support and equip them with the necessary knowledge that will enable them to tap into their full potential and thus enhance their skills.