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The study explored the influence of work experience on adult part-time students' academic success as defined by their cumulative grade point average. The sample consisted of 614 part-time students from four polytechnic institutions in Malaysia. The study identified six factors to measure the perceived influence of work experiences--positive belief, negative belief, intrinsic motivation, learning orientation, deep learning approach, and surface learning approach. The results indicated that lower academic success was associated with higher negative belief, lower intrinsic motivation and adopting surface learning approach. Students with a deeper learning approach, greater intrinsic motivation, and greater learning orientation tended to perceive higher positive belief. In contrast, students who favored surface learning approaches were more likely to perceive negatively the impact of work experiences on their academic learning. The best-fitted path model demonstrated students' academic success was affected negatively by negative belief and weakly by intrinsic motivation. Other factors did not have significant direct effects on students' academic success. These findings suggest that the success of adult part-time students does not rely on their positive attitude alone, but also could depend on the effectiveness of the classroom environment, teaching and learning strategies, and assessment methods.

A central challenge for higher education today is to understand the diversity and complexity of nontraditional students' life experiences and how these factors influence their academic success. To better understand these issues, this study explored the role of demographic characteristics and employment variables in predicting the academic success of part-time students at four polytechnic institutes in Malaysia. Demographic characteristics studied included respondent's age, gender, marital status, number of children, parent's educational level, and financial resources. Employment variables assessed were number of years working, job relatedness to the program, job satisfaction, and monthly salary. A total of 614 part-time students completed the survey. Results indicated that being an older student, being female, paying for their own education, and having high job satisfaction were statistically significant predictors of part-time students' academic success. Understanding the effects of demographic characteristics and employment variables on students' academic success might help administrators and educators to develop teaching and learning processes, support services, and policies to enhance part-time students' academic success.