Ying Guo

Year of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Name

International Educational Leadership

Department or School/College

Phyllis J. Washington College of Education

Committee Chair

Erica L. Allen

Commitee Members

John Matt, William P. McCaw, Liqin Tang, Maegan Rides At The Door

Abstract

China’s higher education system has undergone rapid expansion since the implementation of the 1999 enrollment policy, transitioning through stages of scale expansion, quality improvement, and program development. While increasing access to higher education, this expansion has also led to challenges such as low student engagement, high dropout rates, and employment difficulties.

This study examined the relationship between student engagement and academic performance, particularly in China's higher education system. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between student engagement and academic performance, in this study there was a focus on how five specific domains of engagement, Level of Academic Challenge, Active and Collaborative Learning, Student-Faculty Interaction, Supportive Campus Environment, and Enriching Educational Experiences, relate to students' self-reported GPA.

The study employed a quantitative, non-experimental design to explore these relationships. Three key statistical methods were used: descriptive statistics to summarize the data, Pearson correlation analysis to assess the strength and direction of relationships, and multiple regression analysis to determine the predictive power of the engagement domains on academic performance. Data were collected from 383 students across four public universities in Inner Mongolia, China using the NSSE-China instrument, and were analyzed using SPSS software.

The results indicated that overall student engagement had a positive, though weak, correlation with academic performance (GPA). Notably, the domains of Active and Collaborative Learning (ACL), Student-Faculty Interaction (SFI), and Supportive Campus Environment (SCE) showed positive correlations with students’ GPA. At the same time, the Level of Academic Challenge (LAC) and Enriching Educational Experiences (EEE) had no correlations. The regression analysis revealed that while student engagement generally impacted academic performance, Active and Collaborative Learning had the strongest positive effect, followed by Student-Faculty Interaction, and then Supportive Campus Environment (SCE).

These findings suggest that improving student engagement, particularly in areas such as collaborative learning and student-faculty interaction, can improve academic outcomes. The study contributes valuable insights for educators and university administrators seeking to improve student success through targeted initiatives. The research provides a foundation for future initiatives to improve academic performance in China’s higher education system by quantifying the specific influence of different engagement domains.

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