ORIGINAL PAPER Second-chance university admission, the theory of planned behaviour and student achievement Yabit Alas 1 • Muhammad Anshari 2 • Norakmarul Ihsan Sabtu 3 • Norazmah Yunus 3 Published online: 2 May 2016 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning 2016 Abstract The theory of planned behaviour attempts to explain factors which influence behaviour. One of these factors is intention. Positive or negative intentions are formed by a person’s impression of the way other people would perceive similar behaviour (external forces). The authors of this study used the theory of planned behaviour to examine, compare and interpret the academic performance of students entering a university either via direct intake or via a bridging programme. This study focuses on the UniBridge programme offered by Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), which is an intensive one-semester course that prepares students for under- graduate-level study. While direct-intake applicants pass minimum requirements for entry and are able to enrol directly into an undergraduate programme, applicants who do not meet these minimum requirements can join this bridging programme which is designed to be a ‘‘second-chance’’ entry option. Using amixed-methods approach, the authors subjected student performance data of both direct-intake and bridge-pro- gramme undergraduates to statistical analyses, carried out interviews and then used the & Muhammad Anshari anshari.ali@ubd.edu.bn Yabit Alas yabit.alas@ubd.edu.bn Norakmarul Ihsan Sabtu norakmarul.ihsan@ubd.edu.bn Norazmah Yunus norazmah.yunus@ubd.edu.bn 1 Continuing Education Centre and Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Brunei, Brunei Darussalam 2 Continuing Education Centre and E-Government Innovation Centre, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Brunei, Brunei Darussalam 3 Continuing Education Centre, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Brunei, Brunei Darussalam 123 Int Rev Educ (2016) 62:299–316 DOI 10.1007/s11159-016-9558-5