ABSTRACT
This study is on students’
participation in administrative decision-making in the governance of
universities in South-South Nigeria. The study became necessary because of the
researcher’s experiences of student crisis in South – South Nigeria universities.
Five purposes of study and five research questions guided the study. Four
hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The research design
adopted was descriptive survey research design. The population for the study
was 145,870 students with a sample of 1200 final year students. The data
collection instrument was questionnaire made up of forty (40) items. The
internal consistency of the instrument was established with the use of Cronbach
alpha method. The reliability co- efficient of 0.82 was obtained for cluster
one, 0.76 for cluster two 0.68 for three, 0.91 for four and 0.88 for cluster
five. These scores or values were computed and internal reliability coefficient
of 0.92 was obtained and considered reliable enough for the study. Data
collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation. The result revealed
that: Students of federal and state universities agreed that the university
disciplinary committees are composed of students and members of staff and
students are free to contribute to matters relating to students discipline in
the committee. Student of federal and state universities disagreed that the
rules and regulations operating in the university for students are made by the
students and the university authority. Students of federal universities agreed
that university authority seeks students’ opinions when rules and regulations
are formulated for students, Students of both federal and state universities
also disagreed that students and the university authority always decide hostel
accommodation fees, Students of federal and state universities disagreed that;
they take part in deciding internally generated revenue like: development fee,
laboratory fee, and their views are not usually sought nor considered before
increases in registration fees are made. Students of both federal and state
universities held the opinion that students’ leaders are elected by students
and the list forwarded to the university authority for approval among others.
Based on the findings, conclusions were drawn and the educational implications
discussed. Among the recommendations made were that: Students should be
represented in university disciplinary committees of their institutions,
university authorities should involve students in the formulation of rules and
regulations on students union government in both state and federal
universities. Students should participate in decision making on accommodation
related issues. Students should be involved in decision making on internally
generated revenue and finally students should take part in the selection of
their leaders.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Decision
making is a process of selecting from among a set of alternatives in the light
of given objectives. It can be viewed as a mental process resulting in the
selection of a course of action among several alternatives (Burker and Miller,
1999). Decision making is also defined as a judgment, a process of formulating
and implementing decision a conscious selection among alternatives and a process
of problem solving. The process of decision making includes the use of complex,
logical and mathematical process (Okeke, 2007) Decisions are classified into
policy decisions, administrative or managerial decisions and operational or
executive decisions. Ogbonnaya (2002) defined policy decisions as decisions
made by public officials which give direction to public policy actions. While
administrative decisions are decisions which determine the means to be used in
achieving organizational goals (Obi, 2003). Operational decisions according to
Okeke (2007) are decisions which are made on daily basis a cases arise. He
added that executive or operational decisions are concerned with the ways in
which different programmes of the institutions are carried out.
Administration
is a process of coordinating the efforts of human and material resources
systematically to achieve set goals (Ezeocha, 1990) while management is defined
by Peretomode (1996) as a social and interactional process involving a sequence of
coordinated events planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling or
leading in order to use available resources to achieve a desired goal in the
fastest possible way. Administration and management are related because both
involve the coordination of human and material resources to achieve set goals
in any organization. However management is more embracing in the sense that it
involve planning, organizing, controlling, leading among others while
administration involve more of the coordination of human and material resources
in the process of implementing programme (Ejiogu, 1990). In this study, however
management and administration mean the same thing.
Administrative
decisions making in educational institutions are normally embarked upon by
university administrators, provost, or principals for the day to day running of
their institutions (Obi, 2003). In the universities in particular
administrative decisions covers such areas as regulation of teaching and
learning activities courses assigned to faculty staff, promotion of research,
admission of students, students discipline, welfare of students, and the
regulation of their conduct, budgeting and spending (Okeke, 2007). These
decisions are made by university administrators and staff. However administrative
decision-making for students participation in this study covers students
representation in the disciplinary committees of their universities, students
participation in formulation of rules and regulation on students’ union
government, students participation in administrative decision-making on
accommodation matters, students participation in decision-making on internally
generated revenue like tuition fee development fee, examination fee, library
fee, and students participation in administrative decision-making on the
selection of students leaders.
In
his decision making theory called competencies decision making theory Abbot
(1974) taught that leaders should identify and differentiate between types of
decisions in an organization, determine the type of information needed for the
decision and consider the involvement of all stake holders in the institution
in making decisions in order to avoid the negative consequences of taking
decisions without the consideration of some stake holders in organizations. The
researcher therefore anchored this study on Abbot competencies decision-making
theory and on Hodgett and Altman (1979) bounded rationality decision making
theory which seek to identify and select the best alternative from different
organizational temperament and experiences before a decision is made.
It
should be noted that the desire of the federal and state governments to provide
higher education for her citizens has led to the establishment of universities
in all parts of Nigeria. The major aims of which are to produce high level
manpower for overall national development, to inculcate the best values for the
survival of individual and society, to develop the intellectual capacity of
individual to understand and appreciate their local and external environment
among others. (FRN, 2004). These aims would not be adequately achieved under a
violent and troubled situations always experienced during students crisis in
South South Nigeria. The university
authorities are thus expected to apply inclusive decision-making technique that
will enable the participation of all stakeholders in the universities in
decision-making and the provision of adequate social amenities with the funds
provided by government in order to enhance teaching and learning and
achievements of set goals (Aluede, 2001).
However evidence from
literature reviewed and personal observation revealed that students’ low
participation in decision-making in issues that concern their welfare in the
governance of universities and lack of adequate social amenities are causes of
students crises in south south universities (Adejuwon and Fatile 2011). For
instance there are persistent incidence of students’ crisis and indiscipline in
south south Nigerian Universities, there are reports of students’
disorderliness, chaos, riot, cultism boycott of lectures and hooliganism
featuring frequently in newspaper dially and there are also reports of
students’ violent demonstrations leading to destruction of public and private
property lost of lives, disruption of classes, untimely closure of schools and
disruption of academic calendar in south south universities. (Aluede, Jimo,
Aqwinede and Omoregie, 2005). The impact of this crises are: prolong of
academic activities, poor academic performance, poor implementation of the
curriculum, examination malpractice and in most cases renders school
environment completely insecure for serious academic activities which are never
beneficial to the students, the universities and the society in general
(Adejuwon and Fatile, 2011).....
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