Graduate business education: profiling successful students and its relevance for marketing and recruitment policy

The authors conducted an analysis of 1,049 graduates from post-graduate business programs at an Australian university primarily to determine whether students from nonbusiness backgrounds, after completing a business preparation program, perform at the same academic level as students with prior studies in business. The authors found that students from business and nonbusiness backgrounds perform equally well. Another objective was to test the associations between additional student-related variables and academic performance for profiling successful postgraduate students. The authors found that younger postgraduate students and those who are more proficient in English achieve higher GPA scores. Student profiling is relevant for determining marketing and recruitment policy.