Significance of primary factors influencing students' performance at the College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Objective: To determine the effect of different enabling factors such as curriculum, role of faculty, academic advising and availability of learning resources and supportive services on the performance of students pursuing their Bachelor's degree in dentistry. Methods: Data was collected from the male and female students of the College of Dentistry, King Saud University, during the academic year 2008-2009. All undergraduate students (576) constituted the total sample size of the study. The respondents were requested to fill a questionnaire form, which was specially designed in accordance with requirements of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE). The questionnaire comprised 45 questions addressing all aspects of the relevant factors. The five-point Likert scale was used to evaluate the feedback. All the responses (239) were thoroughly examined and only the completely filled forms (169) were subjected to regression analyses, taking student's CGPA as a dependent factor and a depiction of their performance. The t-tests were also worked out to evaluate variations in the responses of male and female students to each sub-factor. Results: The study showed a significant impact of faculty and learning resources and support services on a student's achievement (alpha= 0.05). Surprisingly, academic advising and the dental curriculum had non-significant effect at 95 % level of confidence. However, the critical analyses acknowledged that the non-significant impact was due to poor performance of the two factors. Conclusion: The role of faculty and learning resources as well as of support services had significant effect on students' performance. However, there is an immense need to improve the level of academic advising and revise the curriculum to have a significant impact of these factors on the student's achievements.