Academic performance of female students enrolled under pre-entry programme at the University of Dar es Salaam

The main objective of this paper was to determine whether there are significant differences in academic performance of female students enrolled under the pre-entry programme and students who were admitted normally in science based courses at the University of Dar es Salaam. Under the pre-entry programme, female students undergo six weeks of remedial training after which they do a pre-entry exam. However, little was known about the academic performance of female students admitted to higher institutions under affirmative action programmes compared to those who met the higher education admission criteria. This was an interesting study and the first of its kind in the literature to evaluate the academic performance of students under affirmative action programmes aimed at narrowing gender gaps in human capacity building in developing countries. The study utilized secondary data collected from the University of Dar es Salaam records. The results showed that the academic performance of female students enrolled under the pre-entry programme was on average lower than for students who were admitted normally. However, female students who were admitted normally outperformed male students counterparts. The findings have practical implications for policy makers interested in bridging gender gaps in human capacity building and identify areas warranting additional research.