ABSTRACT
Higher education in Flanders (Dutch speaking part of Belgium) is characterised by an open access system, and as many other countries, confronted with a growing heterogeneous student population in the first year which is paralleled by an increasing dropout rate of students in the first year. Empirical studies investigating why some students are more successful in their studies in the first year of higher education and other students not are needed to better understand the actual possibilities and boundaries of entry in higher education for students from different backgrounds. Studies based upon the theories of Spady (1970) and Tinto (1993) have put emphasis on the fact that many direct determinants of study success or persistence are still student characteristics, more specifically pre-entry factors such as gender, study delay, prior education and socio-economic and cultural status or capital (Reynolds and Walberg 1992; Tinto 1993). However, former research shows that other factors at the student level also play a significant role and have a direct impact on academic performance such as autonomous motivation (Deci and Ryan 2000), differences in student learning (Vermunt 2005) and academic self-confidence (Tinto 1993). In addition, factors such as academic motivation, perceptions of ability (e.g. Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier and Ryan 1991), self-efficacy (e.g. Bandura 1977) and learning strategies (e.g. Donche, Coertjens and Van Petegem 2010) are assumed not to be stable or trait-like characteristics of students and are relatively malleable or dynamic in nature.
