Delayed Entry as Predictors of Academic Achievement of Master Degree Students

Traditionally, delayed entry is considered as a factor that negatively influences student success. However, taking a gap year before going to Master Degree program can be viewed as advantage, because it gives opportunity to enter the labor market, gain professional experience and, eventually, better understand own educational needs.. This paper examines the impact of the delayed entry on master degree students success by investigating difference in academic performance and degree attainment of delayed-entry students compared with on-time students. We employed data that have been derived from the statistical data set of the National Research University "Higher School of Economics" (Moscow). The data about master students entered in 2010 - 2013 years have been used in analysis. The effect of delayed entry on academic performance have been tested by employing linear multiple regression analysis (N = 6678 and N = 6801). Using multinomial logistic regression analysis (N = 7145) allowed us to verify hypothesis about effect of delayed entry on degree attainment. Delayed-entry students entered in 2010 have comparatively lower academic performance than students without a gap year before going to a master degree. Nevertheless, there is no significant differences in academic performance of delayed-entry and on-time students among cohorts of 2012 and 2013. For all cohorts there is a negative effect of delayed entry on attainment degree in time and positive effect on achieving no result. The relationship between delayed entry and attainment degree out of time is ambiguous. We can explain these findings by the student’s intentions and changes in the educational policy of the university. Since we have found significant relationships, the further research on the role of delayed entry for the master degree student is required. Keywords: delay entry, master degree, higher education, dropout, degree attainment, academic performance, non-traditional student