The admission results of candidates for studies and their educational achievements at the second-level studies in Midwifery — single-centre predictive study

Introduction. The desire to achieve an effective method of selecting the best candidates is necessary to educate students who have in the future to achieve significant success in the higher levels of career.

Aim. Evaluation of predictive validity of admission criteria for candidates for full-time second-level studies in Midwifery at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Warsaw (MUW).

Material and methods. Five classes (years) of female students (n = 170), who started and completed their full-time studies of second-level in Midwifery between 2008/2009 and 2013/2014; socio-demographic data was collected (age, place of birth, type of matriculation exam, and university studies completed as the first degree), the admission results for studies (average grades from the first degree studies), the achievements in the course of the second-level (average of the course of study and the field of specialist care). Multiple regression models were used for prediction; calculation were performed in STATISTICA 12.5 with a PLUS suit (Zestaw PLUS).

Results. Completing the course of the first-level at the MUW contributed to achieving significantly better results in the course of the second-level education; both of the qualification criteria were significant predictors of success in the course of studies; the average grade from the first-level studies showed stronger influence on the achievements during the second-level studies than the results of the admission examination.

Conclusions. 1. The admission criteria used for full-time second degree studies in Midwifery at the MUW meet the predictive relevance assumption. 2. It is necessary to further monitor the quality of recruitment and to expand the future analyses with data from the tracking of graduates of this field of study.