Parental support, self-concept, motivational orientaions and teacher-student relationship, and academic competnece: an exploratory analysis

This study examined the relationship among academic competence, Grade Point Averages (GPAs) and factors responsible for students’ academic competence. A four factored questionnaire administered to a nationally representative sample of 100 graduate and post-graduate students to find out the factors responsible for academic competence. In addition, The Academic Competence Evaluation Scale (ACES-College) applied for calculating the academic competence. Significant and positive correlations are found between factors affecting academic competence, GPAs and academic competence. Students’ scores on the ACES and their GPAs provided significant evidence to support the idea that the factors such as parental support, clearer self-concept, positive teacher-student relationship and strong motivational orientations are correlated with their GPAs at low magnitude and; academic competence with high ratings. It is concluded that students with stronger presence of these factors have better academic competence than their peers at graduate and post-graduate level. An integrated framework that is related to students’ academic competence and that promotes other related factors is suggested.