This study examined the influence of stable institutional policies on educational planning practices of public universities in Rivers State, Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population comprised 4,531 academic staff from three public universities: University of Port Harcourt (1,416), Rivers State University (1,603), and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (1,512). A sample of 453 academic staff representing 10% of the population was selected through stratified random sampling. Data were collected using the Institutional Policy Stability and Educational Planning Practices Questionnaire (IPSEPPQ), a self-structured instrument validated by experts and tested for reliability yielding a coefficient of 0.86. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions, while simple regression and independent t-test were used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed that stable institutional policies influence educational planning practices to a high extent (Grand Mean = 3.09). A statistically significant positive relationship was found between institutional policy stability and educational planning practices (r = 0.62, r² = 0.38, F-cal. = 168.45 > F-crit. = 3.84). No significant difference was found between federal and state universities in their perception of the influence of stable institutional policies on educational planning practices (t-cal = 1.45 < t-crit = 1.96). The study recommended that university management should entrench long-term policy frameworks that resist arbitrary changes and that both federal and state governments should institutionalise mechanisms that guarantee policy continuity in public universities.
Keywords: Federal Universities, Public Universities, Rivers State, Stable institutional policies, State Universities, educational planning practices, policy consistency
