Saliu H.O. & Musa M.A. (2017). Evaluating the Impact of University mode of entry on the Academic performance of Architecture students. Archiculture Journal 1(1), Department of Architecture University of Jos, Nigeria.
EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF UNIVERSITY MODE OF ENTRY ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS BY Hassan Ozovehe SALIU and Muhammad Aminu MUSA Department of Architecture, Faculty of Environmental Design, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, *Corresponding author email:
[email protected]/
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ABSTRACT There are basically two modes of entry to study Architecture in Nigerian universities: University Matriculation Examination (UME) and Direct Entry (DE). In the previous years students could be admitted through remedial program without necessarily passing through UME, however that is no longer possible. There have been debates as to whether mode of entry affects academic performance of architecture students or not, and also, which mode of entry should be given more emphasis when it comes to admission policy in schools of architecture in Nigerian universities. The aim of this research is to study the impact of university mode of entry on the academic performance of architecture students in Ahmadu Bello University. Data was collected from the department of architecture Ahmadu Bello University Zaria on the performance of 1902 students from 1991/1992 to 2014/2015 sessions which covers 20 Sets of Course-Credit System. It was then analysed using One-way ANOVA technique with significance threshold of 0.05, bar charts, column charts, graphs and tables. The study rejected the null hypothesis and concluded that, the impact of University Mode of Entry on the Academic Performance of Architecture Students is statistically significant, df (3, 1898) = 4.76, p = .0026. The major difference is between the students that are admitted into 300 level and the other two. It further recommends that, admission policy of the schools of architecture in Universities should be made based on mode of entry, so also pre-degree program should be introduced for architecture students that come through UME and those that get into 200 level. Keywords: Curriculum, Cumulative Grade Point Average, Mode of Entry and Performance INTRODUCTION Nigerian Educational Policy enables its Universities to have different modes of entry for interested candidates into the various educational programs. These ways of gaining admission include University Matriculation Examination (UME), and Direct Entry (DE) in which a candidate may have one of the following qualifications: Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE), Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB), National Diploma (ND), Higher National Diploma (HND) or its equivalent before gaining admission into the chosen university (Jamb Brochure, 2016). For example, interested candidates that come through UME are admitted into 100 level and those that have NCE, IJMB or ND are admitted at 200 levels. However, those with HND or on transfer (depending on their previous level) start from 300 levels or 200 levels, depending on their class of certificates; university admission policy and the course applied for. Securing university admission in Colonial era was “a serious headache” as observed by Tade (2015), until after the enactment of Lord Eric Ashby Commission‘s report in 1962 which cleared the difficulties and marked the beginning of University Education in Nigeria. Olotuah (2001) stated that, the formal training of 1
Saliu H.O. & Musa M.A. (2017). Evaluating the Impact of University mode of entry on the Academic performance of Architecture students. Archiculture Journal 1(1), Department of Architecture University of Jos, Nigeria.
architects can be traced back to 17th century in France and as an academic discipline was in 19th century. Ahmadu Bello University Zaria is one of the famous Federal University in Nigeria, established in October 1962, two years after Nigerian Independence. One of its take-up programmes was the Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch), which made Ahmadu Bello University the pioneer university that trains architects up to degree level in the whole country. From then, a number of universities emerged which according to Opoko and Oluwatayo (2015) amounts to 27 accredited schools offering architecture in the country as at 2012. Arayela (2001) observed that, architecture program was first lunched in Nigeria in 1952 at Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (NCAST) Ibadan, and according to Sagada (2002), was then relocated to its Zaria campus in 1955, as a five year program with the award of a diploma which enables students to write the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) final exams. Ahmadu Bello University remains the pioneer of the profession in terms of university education in the country. One can imagine the impact the Department has on its sister departments nationwide, especially after many years of training prominent architects and academicians who went to other universities to establish the programme. One of such academics is the first professor of architecture in Nigeria; Professor Ekundayo Adeyinka Adeyemi. He graduated from being a student of Ahmadu Bello University to becoming a staff member in the department. He rose to the level of professor before leaving for Federal University of Technology Akure, and later ended up in Covenant University as revealed by his curriculum vitae. Mas’ud (2009) has reported that, two main curriculum reviews were experienced by the Pioneer school of Architecture Zaria: initially in 1968, when one tier B.Arch model was revised to the dual tier BSc/MSc model and then, with the coming of course-credit model in 1988. From the commencement of the Course-Credit System to date, some researchers have shown that the students’ academic performance is deteriorating in Nigerian schools of architecture, probably based on the implication of the course credit system. This has been attested to by Mas’ud (2009) who asserted that, academic performance of architecture students under course credit system was the worst when compared to the other 2 systems witnessed by the department of architecture ABU Zaria. Furthermore, Adekunle (2012) notes that, Nigerian university education system performed very well between 1960’s and 1970’s when about 4 Nigerian universities were ranked amongst the top 20 universities in Africa. He added that the introduction of the Course-Credit system resulted in a decline in students’ performance. Currently, none of Nigerian Universities are within the best 1000 in the world. For the past 20 years, the course credit system has been in operation in department of Architecture ABU, Zaria using the following modes of entry: UME and DE. Admission through UME requires candidate to pass the senior secondary school certificates examinations (SSCE), or its equivalent with credit in English language, Mathematics, Physics and any two other science subjects to be given admission to 100 Level after getting acceptable pass at the Entrance Examination organized by Joint Admission and Matriculation Examination Board (JAMB). The Direct Entry mode of admission however, can be categorised into two: first is ALevel admission where candidate who passes SSCE as well as A-level programs such as IJMB, higher national diploma (HND) architecture with lower class are admitted to 200level. The second category of DE mode of entry is the possession of Upper Credit in HND Architecture, hence the admission into 300level.
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Saliu H.O. & Musa M.A. (2017). Evaluating the Impact of University mode of entry on the Academic performance of Architecture students. Archiculture Journal 1(1), Department of Architecture University of Jos, Nigeria.
FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SCHOOLS Critical review of literature exposed a wide-range of interest in research of students’ academic performance at different levels of education in the world. For example: Farooq, Chaudhry, Shafique, and Berhan (2011) examined the issues affecting academic performance in schools and opined that socio-economic status (SES) and parents’ educational level have a substantial influence on learners’ general academic success as well as achievement in English Language and Mathematics. Azhar, Nadeem, Naz, Perveen and Sameen (2013), explored the impact of parental education and socio-Economic position on academic accomplishments of students at university levels and deduced that, students from wealthy families perform better than those from financially-challenged families. They also added that, parental education is proportional to their children’s performance. Corkum, MoGonnell, and Schachar, (2010) investigated students’ performance in school and found out that neither medication nor academic supports significantly predict academic success over and above the co-variates of standard performance and intelligence. Mlambo (2011) was also of the opinion that, entry credentials did not pointedly affect academic performance of undergraduate students, which is contrary to the opinion of Adewale and Adhuze (2014) who observed that, there is a weak relationship between academic performance of architecture students in Nigerian institutions and their entry qualifications. A similar study was carried out by Tade (2015), who examined the correlation of entry certificates and academic performance of architecture students in Nigerian Universities. The two studies concluded that, there was a weak connection between academic performance of Architecture students and their basic understanding of Mathematics and Physics. Abdulkadir (1988) observed that, significant increase in accessing the higher institutions over some decades was at tremendous price, causing severe decline in academic quality. Some studies show that another cause of academic failure may be the relationship between students’ enrolment and the mode of admission in Nigerian Universities (Olayi & Ibol, 2000). Momoh, Gbodi and Morenikeji (2006), have also observed that, there has also been a controversy over the mode of admission of students with people claiming superiority of one over the others. Another point of debate was on whether the mode of entry affects academic performance of Architecture students or not, as well as to which mode of entry should be given more emphasis when it comes to admission policy in Nigerian universities. In realizing this goal the following research questions were raised: what is the degree of academic performance of architecture students based on the various entry modes under Course-Credit System? Is the admission quota for the department of architecture dependent on students’ previous performance based on their mode of entry? To what extent has the mode of entry contributed the deterioration of academic performance of architecture students? These brought about the following hypotheses: null hypothesis (HO) states that the mean Performance of Architecture students is significantly the same for all the 3 modes of Entry, while the alternative hypothesis (HI) states that the mean Performance of Architecture students is significantly different for at least one of the 3 modes of Entry. The intention of this paper is to find out the impact of university mode of entry on the academic performance of architecture students using Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, being the pioneer school of Architecture in Nigeria.
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Saliu H.O. & Musa M.A. (2017). Evaluating the Impact of University mode of entry on the Academic performance of Architecture students. Archiculture Journal 1(1), Department of Architecture University of Jos, Nigeria.
METHODOLOGY The study used quantitative approach and was conducted using a review of literature from secondary materials such as journals, books, papers, internet, and thesis. As a result, a list of variables was developed. Data was collected from the Department of Architecture Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (being the pioneer school of Architecture in Nigeria) on the performance of 1902 students from 1991/1992 to 2014/2015 sessions which covers 20 Sets of Course-Credit System. Students’ performance was tabulated against their modes of entry base on their final year Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) as shown in table 1. Data generated was then analysed using One-way Anova technique using significance threshold of 0.05, bar charts, column charts, graphs and tables to find out the impact of university mode of entry on the academic performance of architecture students in Ahmadu Bello University Zaria Nigeria. RESULTS AND DATA ANALYSIS The following results were obtained from the Department of Architecture, ABU Zaria base on the students’ performance on their final semester CGPA as shown on table 1.
Table 1. Academic Performance of Architecture students against their mode of Entry from 1991/1992 to 2014/2015 Sessions
S/NO
1
2
3
MODE OF ENTRANCE 4.55.0 (No.) Admission into 1 100L through UME A-Level 1 Admission into 200L Admission into 0 300L (HND with Upper Credit)
NUMBER OF PASS LIST C.G.P.A 3.52.41.51.04.49 3.49 2.39 1.49 (No.) (No.) (No.) (No.) 129 601 149 5
Total
FAIL TOTAL LIST (No.) (No.)
(No.) 885
853
1738
10
44
8
2
65
69
134
13
5
3
0
21
9
30
SOURCE: Archives of the Department of Architecture, A.B.U. Zaria, 2016
From the table 1 above, 1738 students (91.4%) of the total admission into department of Architecture from 1991/1992 to 2014/2015 sessions were admitted through UME, 134 students (7%) through the A-Level Admission into 200 level and 30 students (1.6%) DE students into 300 level (HND holders with Upper Credit). An examination of their results shows that, those that were admitted into 300 level contributed 1% of the total failed students and 7.4% were apportioned 4
Saliu H.O. & Musa M.A. (2017). Evaluating the Impact of University mode of entry on the Academic performance of Architecture students. Archiculture Journal 1(1), Department of Architecture University of Jos, Nigeria.
percentage of students that were admitted into 200 level while 91.6% contributed by UME students. The research is analysed and discussed based on the Hypothesis testing and research questions raised earlier in this paper as follows. For the purpose of Hypothesis testing a Microsoft Excel Data Analysis Pack was used to analyse data from the archives of the Department of Architecture ABU Zaria to find out the value of statistical significant (F and p-value) among the 3 architecture modes of entry and the significance threshold was set as 0.05. One way ANOVA was used to evaluate the impact of University Mode of Entry on the Academic Performance of Architecture Students and the result is shown on the table 2 below. Table 2. One-Way Analysis of Variance of the impact of University Mode of Entry on the Academic Performance of Architecture Students.
SUMMARY Groups
Count
Sum
Average
Variance
1738
65332
37.59
380.19
134
5091
37.99
355.11
30
1532
51.07
171.03
Source of Variation
SS
df
MS
F
P-value
F crit
Between Groups
5359.6481
3
1786.5494
4.7585
0.0026
2.6096
Within Groups
712585.1768
1898
375.4400
Total
717944.8249
1901
Admission into 100L through UME A-Level Admission into 200L Admission into 300L (HND
with
Upper
Credit)
ANOVA
It will be recalled that the null hypothesis states that the mean Performance of Architecture students is the same for all the 3 modes of Entry. In other words, the mean Performance of Architecture students that are admitted through UME is equal to the mean performance for all the other 2 modes of entry as earlier stated. Since the probability is so low (.0026 or less than 5% [
