This paper attempts to identify the extent to which the affective characteristics of Malaysian and Singaporean students’ attainment compared to the OECD average in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012, and examine the influence of students’ affective characteristics, gender, and their socioeconomic status on mathematics performance at both student and school levels. Sample consisted of 5197 and 5546 15-year-old Malaysian and Singaporean students. Data were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling approach with HLM 7.0 software. Results showed that the Index of economic, social, and cultural status (ESCS), mathematics self-efficacy, and mathematics anxiety have significant effects on mathematics performance in Malaysia and Singapore at the student level. Proportion of boys at the school level has no significant effects on mathematics performance for both Malaysian and Singaporean students. ESCS mean at the school level has positive and significant effects on mathematics performance in Malaysia, but not in Singapore. Limitations, implications, and future studies were discussed.

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Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the applicability of Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) in a Malaysian university context. Design/methodology/approach – The CEQ was translated into Malay language using rigorous cross-cultural adaptation procedures. The Malay version CEQ was administered to 190 undergraduate students in one Malaysian public university. Statistical analyses were used to examine the reliability and factor structures of the Malay version CEQ scales using IBM SPSS version 20.0. Findings – Findings raised serious questions about the reliability and construct validity of the CEQ for a Malaysian university sample. Findings revealed that only two out of five scales of CEQ showed satisfactory level of reliability. Six items failed to load on the intended scales. Research limitations/implications – The sample size is small with 190 university students and covered respondents from one local university, while the other 17 local universities were not included due to geographical distance. Practical implications – The findings are particularly important for higher education policymakers to optimise and allocate the resources to improve university quality teaching. More attention should be paid toward how to furnish the university teaching staff to provide a high level of teaching quality that contributes to students’ generic skills for their employment in future. Researchers could extend the applicability of the Malay version CEQ in primary and secondary school context. Originality/value – The vast majority of CEQ-related research has been undertaken in the Western context, thus raising the question of the applicability of CEQ for a Malaysian university context. The fall in the Times Higher Education and QS World University rankings as well as the limited research in assessment-related higher education has also accelerated the needs to examine the applicability of CEQ23 in Malaysian university context. This study has provided fundamental cross-validation empirical evidence to propose improvement in future studies.

Abstract-This article is based on the findings of a study that assessed the Key Performance Indicators Monitoring System (KPI-MS) of a university based on Technology Acceptance Model. The system was developed using PHP 5.2 as the scripting language and MySQL Community Server 5.0 as the databases management system. The assessment of the KPI-MS system was in terms of its perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use by the university users. The study was carried out using a survey questionnaire which was developed and modified from Davis's study on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This instrument was validated by three experts in the related field and the cronbach alpha value of reliability obtained was 0.955. A total of 78 participants from all the schools and centres in one of the public universities in northern Malaysia participated in the study. A descriptive analysis was carried out to obtain the mean scores of KPI-MS as rated by the users. The findings showed that the users rated KPI-MS as a very useful system in monitoring the KPI performance of their schools or centres. Besides, users also indicated that the KPI-MS is easy to use. In conclusion, KPI-MS system is accepted by the users in terms of perceived usefulness and perceive ease of use on the system. Index Terms-Key performance indicators, key performance indicator monitoring system, technology acceptance model, perceive usefulness, perceived ease of use

This article discusses the findings of a study that elucidated users' acceptance of two management systems for key performance indicators (KPIs) in terms of their usefulness and ease of use scores at a higher education institution in Malaysia. The two management systems were Key Performance Indicators Monitoring System (KPI-MS) and Excel Spreadsheet System (ESS). ESS is a system developed using Microsoft Excel and has been in used since the year 2008 in the institution to calculate KPIs marks. The ESS system, however, has several shortcomings, and the KPI-MS system was developed with the intention to replace ESS. KPI-MS is an online KPI performance monitoring system which allows users to access the system wherever and whenever they want using a web browser. In addition, KPI-MS is designed as an intelligent system that is able to process raw data automatically to produce results that can be easily visualized in a graphical manner. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data on the acceptance of both systems. A total of 78 participants who were involved in KPI data processing from all 42 schools and centres in the higher education institution in Malaysia participated in this study. The instrument of this study was adapted and modified from Davis' Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This instrument was content-validated by three experts in the related field and the reliability index computed with Cronbach alpha was 0.955. A descriptive analysis was conducted to compare the mean scores of both KPI-MS and ESS rated by the users. The results showed that the users rated KPI-MS as a very useful system in monitoring KPI performance of their schools or centres compared to ESS. Also, users rated the KPI-MS to be significantly easier (p≤0.01) and more enjoyable to use. In conclusion, it is recommended that KPI-MS should replace the ESS system in managing KPIs data.