Effects of Gender and Military Leave on the Academic Performance of Undergraduate Engineering Students

Contribution: This article examines how military leaves of absence affect the academic performance of engineering students compared to those who did not take a military leave of absence or took only a general break. Gender-related differences were also analyzed since only male students take a military break.Background: Recognizing the effects of military breaks can help students make informed decisions and, in turn, enhance their academic performance. Consequently, it can help students make data-based decisions about when taking a military break would be least disruptive or, perhaps, even beneficial to their academic careers.Research Questions: How does taking a long-term academic break to complete military service in the middle of one's undergraduate education impact the student's performance? Does the gender of students affect their academic performance?Methodology: This research was conducted at the Korea University of Technology and Education (KOREATECH) with data from 1039 undergraduate students in the School of Electrical, Electronics, and Communication Engineering. The students were admitted between 1994 and 2013 and graduated before 2018. The Shapiro-Wilk test, along with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, assessed the normality of the distribution of the data. In addition, analysis of variances (ANOVA) and the Kruskal-Wallis tests were implemented for hypothesis testing.Findings: The research findings demonstrate that contrary to the assumption that having a break might be detrimental to academic success, returning to school after a military leave of absence positively affected students' grade point averages (GPAs). Moreover, students with lower grades significantly increased their GPAs after returning to school from conscription.