An Evaluation of Factors Affecting Architecture Students Performance in Building Structure in Southwestern Nigerian Public Universities (Published)

Building structure courses are compulsory courses in the study of Architecture as application of the knowledge obtained is necessary for building design stability. As important as these courses is, the performance of the students is observed to be generally low. There are many factors that are responsible for this low performance in the courses and this has not been adequately investigated. This study therefore evaluates the factors affecting academic performance of Architecture students in Building structure courses in Southwestern Nigerian public Universities, with a view to proffer solution to this problem and improving on students’ performance in the courses. Quantitative research approach was adopted. Five factors were selected namely: Students background characteristics, teaching style, learning style, classroom environment and structure curriculum. The study employed multistage sampling procedure. Five public universities approved by the National Universities Commission and Architects Registration Council of Nigeria namely: FUTA, LAUTECH, OAU, UNILAG and OOU were purposively selected and sampled. A total of 702 questionnaires were administered to all the pre-final and final year students in the Department of Architecture of the sampled universities, while only 541 questionnaires were adequately completed and considered fit for analysis. Cross tabulation with chi-square was used to summarize the data. Regression analysis was used to evaluate the itemize factors on students’ performances. The study revealed that there was a strong relationship between the level of students’ performance in the courses and the five selected factors combined. It was also revealed that the factor that affected students most was teaching styles. The study concluded that the performance in Building structure courses rests on teaching and learning styles, therefore, when a better performance in courses is desired, a strong priority should be given to the quality of teaching and learning, the two are inseparable.

Keywords: Performance, Public Universities, architecture students, building structure

Internal and External Quality Assurance Practices as Predictors of Institutional Effectiveness of Public Universities in Cross River State, Nigeria (Published)

This study assessed internal and external quality assurance practices as determinants of institutional effectiveness of public universities in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study was intended to address two objectives, from which two null hypotheses were developed. Based on the descriptive survey research design, the census approach was used to study the whole population of 157 administrators (Deans and head of departments) in the two public universities in the study area. Quality Assurance Practices and Institutional Effectiveness Questionnaire (QAPIEQ) was the instrument utilized to collect data. Five experts validated the instrument while an overall Cronbach reliability rating of. 853 was obtained. Data were gathered from 132 respondents due to restrictions that prevented data collection from the targeted 157 respondents. Multiple regression analysis with R studio software version 3.6.0 was used to test the two null hypotheses at the .05 alpha level. Internal quality assurance processes have a substantial influence on university institutional effectiveness (R=.924, R2=.846, F=120.851, p.05), according to the findings. External quality assurance measures were also shown to have a significant influence (R=.792, R2=.782, F=79.100, p.05) on university institutional effectiveness. Based on these findings, it was concluded that internal and external quality assurance processes are critical components that can increase university institutional performance. It was suggested, among other things, that the Nigerian Institutions Commission (NUC) should ensure that accreditation visits are made to universities at least twice, in each academic session to verify the quality of courses and programs.

 

Keywords: External quality assurance, Practices, Public Universities, Quality, Quality Assurance, institutional effectiveness, internal quality assurance

Management Strategies for Effective Course Advisership in Public Universities in Edo State, Nigeria (Published)

Course advising is the fulcrum of an academic staff roles in a university system towards ensuring quality production of human capital needed for development. The study therefore investigated the level of effectiveness of course advisers and their challenges in public universities in Edo State. The descriptive survey of the ex-post facto design was adopted for the study. Course advisers in University of Benin, Benin City and Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma during the 2018/2019 academic session constituted the study population. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 40 course advisers each from the two institutions across ten uniform departments from the two universities. 1600 students who served as respondents to the instruments were also purposively sampled. 80 students each were sampled from the study population from the 10 common departments in the two institutions. Two sets of researcher’s design questionnaire which were validated by senior academics and reliability of the instruments ascertained were used to collect data for the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, standard deviation, t-test and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the data collected. The results of the analysis revealed that course advisers in the public universities in Edo State were generally ineffective. It was also found that there was no significant difference in the effectiveness of course advisers based on experience and gender. The study equally found that course advisers’ effectiveness was hampered by many challenges. To improve on the effectiveness of course advisers, some managerial strategies were recommended. Among which was that regular workshops, seminars and trainings should be organized for course advisers to improve on their capacity. It was also recommended that they should be equipped with computers and internet facilities to boost their effectiveness and efficiency. Another recommendation was that online course advising should be introduced to ease the problem of students’ pressure.

Keywords: Edo state, Effectiveness, Public Universities, course advisership, management strategies

Challenges Facing Higher Education in Management of Privately Sponsored Student Programmes PSSP in Kenya (Published)

Massification or the exponential growth experienced by universities in Kenya for the last one and ahalf decades has negatively impacted on the quality of education being offered by these universities.In their attempt to cater for the large increase in student numbers has come with many challenges caused by overcrowding, crumbling infrastructure, inadequate human and financial resources and declining quality of the professional courses on offer.  This paper sought to identify the challenges faced in the management of Privately Sponsored Students Programmes (PSSP) especially given the continuing expansion in public universities in Kenya. The study was carried out at Moi University, situated in Eldoret, and six of its satellite campuses. Ex post facto design and a mixed method approach study design was used. The target population consisted of all the PSSP students (11,185) enrolled in the academic year 2009/2010 in all the schools that have these programmes and all staff. One hundred and forty (140) teaching and none-teaching staffs were interviewed while 460 students were had questionnaires administered for data collection.  Data was analyzed qualitatively. Unclear university policy for PSSP administration, poor management shrouded by corruption and, inadequate and unqualified teaching staff were among others some of the challenges identified. Public universities need to be open and transparent in management of funds from PSSP Programmes while investing part of the earnings in relevant infrastructure that supports learning in the university.

Keywords: Challenges, Management, PSSP, Public Universities

Lecturers’ Performance Appraisal and Total Quality Management of Public Universities in South-Western Nigeria (Published)

This paper examined the influence of lecturers’ performance appraisal on total quality management of public universities in South-Western Nigeria. The study cuts across all public universities in South-west Nigeria. It adopted a descriptive research design. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 alpha level. Random sampling technique was used to select 500 lecturers from the ranks osenior lecturers to professors in all the universities. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to analyze the data collected. At the end of the study, it was revealed that there are significant relationship among establishing performance standard, communicating performance standard to the lecturers, assessing lecturers by annual performance appraisal and total quality management in public universities. It was recommended amongst other things that management must ensure the assessment of lecturers’ performance thoroughly and continually in order to improve quality in the lecturers and bring about overall total quality management in public and private universities.

Keywords: Appraisal, Higher Education, Management, Performance, Public Universities, Total quality