Predicting Students Graduate on Time Using C4.5 Algorithm

Abstract

Background: Facilitating an effective learning process is the goal of higher education institutions. Despite improvement in curriculum and resources, many students cannot graduate on time. Mostly, the number of students who graduate on time is lower than the number of new students enrolling to universities. This could dilute the chance for students to learn effectively as the ratio between faculty members and students becomes non-ideal.Objective: This study aims to present a prediction model for students’ on-time graduation using the C4.5 algorithm by considering four features, namely the department, GPA, English score, and age.Methods: This research was completed in three stages: data pre-processing, data processing and performance measurement. This predicting scheme make the prediction based on the department of study, age, GPA and English proficiency.Results: The results of this study have successfully predicted students’ graduation. This result is based on the data of students who graduated in 2008-2014. The prediction performance result achieved 90% of accuracy using 300 testing data.Conclusion: The finding is expected to be useful for universities in administering their teaching and learning process.