Academic Performance of Business Students in Quantitative Courses: A Study in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the UAE University

This article aims to investigate the academic performance (measured by quality points) of the business students in quantitative courses. It also explores the impact of a number of factors on the academic performance of business students in these courses. A random sample of 750 third- and fourth-level business students at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE) was chosen. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, t test, and correlation. The results indicated that the academic performance of the business students in quantitative courses differs across the fields of study (Accounting, Finance, Management, Marketing, Management Information Systems, Economics, and Statistics), the nationality (Emirati or non-Emirati), the type of high school (private or public), the major track in high school (science or art), the gender (except for Business Stat 1 and Production and Operations Management courses), and the age (except for Quantitative Methods for Business and Operations Research courses). The study has a number of implications for both administrators and instructors. For administrators, it will make them aware of the impacts of the factors under investigation on business students' performance in quantitative courses. Therefore, this will improve the administrators' ability to design more effective plans to enhance students' learning experience and in turn their performance in those courses and accordingly their overall performance. For instructors, this study will indicate which students might perform poorly in quantitative courses and in turn lead to taking the necessary actions to enhance their performance in these courses. Instructors should organize separate classes for management and marketing students on one hand, and students of other fields of study on the other. Different teaching strategies, course contents, assessment approaches could be used for different groups. Similarly, students could be classified according to grade point average and major track in the high school. Once again, different teaching strategies, course contents, assessment approaches could be used for different groups.