Examining the factors affecting students’ academic performance in Nepal / Ramesh Prasad Tharu

Academic performance refers to the assessing the individual progress, institutional effectiveness, and the overall quality of the educational process. It is the measurable outcomes of a student's educational efforts, typically assessed through continuous evaluation methods such as GPA or percentage marks. This study aimed to explore the factors affecting academic performance among master's level students at Mahendra Multiple Campus, Nepalgunj, a constituent campus of Tribhuvan University, Nepal. A crosssectional research design was utilized, with a sample of 270 students selected from a population of 903 across the faculties of Management, Humanities, and Education using proportionate stratified random sampling. Primary data were collected through structured, pre-tested questionnaires, and the reliability of the instrument was confirmed with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.735. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed, followed by multiple linear regression to identify significant predictors of academic performance. The MLR model explained 57.2% of the variance in academic performance, with significant predictors including type of college, family income, time spent on the internet, family size, and mother’s education level. Students from private colleges, higher-income families, and smaller family sizes performed better, whereas increased time spent on the internet was associated with lower academic performance. These findings underscore the importance of socio-economic and institutional factors in influencing academic performance and highlight the need for improved parental education, equitable access to higher education, and greater investment in institutional resources to promote academic success and contribute to broader societal progress.