Attitude of Tertiary Institution Lecturers in Kwara State towards Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination as a Method for Ensuring Quality Higher Education in Nigeria
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Impact Journal of Transformation
Abstract
The global quest for quality education as entrenched in the Sustainable Development Goal
(SDG4) was born out of the dire need to improve people’s lives through the training of high
level cognitive and non-cognitive skills which will enable students to contribute to worthwhile
development in the society. In that direction, goals of tertiary education in Nigeria focus on the
training of high-level manpower through high quality lifelong education that prepares students
with the knowledge, skills and character for self-dignity. However, a major constraint to the
achievement of the goals is the unsatisfactory performance of students, which has been blamed
on single entrance examination process. Towards ensuring quality higher education, therefore,
tertiary educational institutions are saddled with the mandate of ensuring quality student intake
through the conduct of multiple entrance examinations, particularly the Post-Unified Tertiary
Matriculation Examination (Post-UTME), which has generated mixed reactions across the
country in recent times. This study therefore investigated attitudes of tertiary institution
lecturers in Kwara State towards Post-UTME as a method for ensuring quality higher
education in Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive method. A total of 508 respondents
participated through purposive sampling while a structured questionnaire entitled, “Attitude
Towards Post-UTME Questionnaire (ATPUQ)” was used to collect data. The descriptive and
inferential statistics were used to analyse the data and all hypotheses were tested at 0.05 alpha
levels. The results revealed that respondents showed positive attitudes towards Post-UTME.
There was a significant difference in the attitude of the respondents based on institution type
and career cadre. It was recommended that lecturers should be adequately involved in the
conduct of the Post-UTME; and lecturers in private tertiary institutions should be more
educated on the benefits of Post-UTME in enhancing quality higher education.
Description
Keywords
Attitude, Post-UTME, Quality higher education, Lecturers