Generating information for academic planning in Nigerian universities

Abstract

This investigation looked at the generation of information for academic planning purposes in universities in Nigeria, especially first and second generation universities. The paper reviewed literature extensively on the meaning of information and came up to examine whether the information generated in Nigerian universities were adequate. The investigation adopted the survey research design drawing its population from the Directors of Academic Planning and Information Technology, academic staff and students in seven out of the thirteen universities that constitute first and second generation universities in Nigeria. A total of 7,160 respondents were interviewed for the project. Two research questions and two hypotheses were raised. The T - tests was used to test hypothesis one at 0.05 level of significance and tested significant that information generation varied between first and second generation universities in Nigeria. ANOVA was used to test the relative contribution of each university to information generation that also tested significant at P< 0.05. A Post Hoc Analysis was carried out to test the relative contribution of each university. The study observed that factors accounting for variation in the levels of information generation included age of university, social and environmental insecurity making the attraction of high level technical personal difficult, poor information infrastructure and poor funding. The study recommended the adoption of university friendly policies to ameliorate the problems.