Abstract The current research explores the influence of multiple factors (such as class attendance, previous academic performance, in-class involvement and attention, class schedule, gender and other control variables) on the academic performance of public-administration undergraduate students. The regression models developed based on the academic literature were tested on a sample of 1st-year students (N = 115) enrolled in the Public Administration bachelor program of Babeș-Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca) in order to explain their performance (grade) in a final examination. Since none of the variables included in the model are self-reported (i.e. classic self-administered questionnaires) we have reduced the potential that social desirability bias could influence our results, thus strengthening the reliability and robustness of our findings. Our results show that the main factors which can influence students’ academic performance are attendance at seminars and in-class involvement. All other factors which were included in the regression model (age, gender, distance between class site and their home, residence in urban or rural environment, attention and motivation, class schedule and four proxies / measures for previous performance) were either not statistically significant in any of the models or showed an inconsistent / unstable influence on academic performance. These results can be of interest not only for Public Administration scholars, but also for university decision makers. As such, starting from the aforementioned findings and the literature, we also propose and discuss specific measures, which can be adopted by faculty-level decision makers in order to help students improve their academic performance and ensure better educational outcomes, especially in regard to the admission criteria currently in place. Points for practitioners The research investigates, among other potential factors, whether class attendance influences performance regardless of other individual characteristics. In doing so, the research tries to provide an answer to the ongoing debate on the usefulness of compulsory attendance at lectures and seminars in higher education. Furthermore, by observing the influence of previous performance (during high school) on current academic performance, the research can identify more adequate admission criteria, which can be used by university decision makers to ensure a better selection of candidates, thus potentially decreasing dropout rates.

中文翻译：

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为什么有些失败和其他成功：解释PA大学生的学业成绩

摘要当前研究探讨了多种因素（如上课率，过往的学习成绩，课堂参与度和注意力，上课时间，性别和其他控制变量）对公共管理本科学生学习成绩的影响。以学术文献为基础开发的回归模型，是通过对参加Bebeș-Bolyai大学（Cluj-Napoca）公共管理学士学位课程的一年级学生（N = 115）样本进行测试的，目的是解释他们的表现（成绩）在期末考试中。由于模型中所包含的变量都不是自我报告的（即经典的自我管理调查表），因此我们降低了社会期望偏差可能影响我们的结果的可能性，从而增强了研究结果的可靠性和稳健性。我们的结果表明，影响学生学习成绩的主要因素是参加研讨会和课堂参与。回归模型中包括的所有其他因素（年龄，性别，上课地点与他们的住所之间的距离，在城市或农村环境中的居住，注意力和动机，上课时间表以及先前表现的四个代理/度量）都不具有统计学意义。在任何模型中均显示出不一致或不稳定的影响。这些结果不仅对公共管理学者感兴趣，而且对于大学决策者也可能感兴趣。因此，从上述发现和文献开始，我们还提出并讨论了具体措施，教师级别的决策者可以采用此方法，以帮助学生提高他们的学习成绩并确保更好的教育效果，尤其是在当前的入学标准方面。从业人员要点研究除其他潜在因素外，还研究了班级出勤是否会影响绩效，而与其他个人特征无关。在这种情况下，研究试图为正在进行的关于义务教育在高等教育的讲座和研讨会中的作用的辩论提供答案。此外，通过观察以前的成绩（在高中期间）对当前学业成绩的影响，研究可以确定更充分的录取标准，大学决策者可以使用这些标准来确保更好地选择候选人，