Public and Private University Students Performance in Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in Nigeria

This study analyzed performance of public and private university students in Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in Nigeria with a view to determining whether students’ performance in UTME was dependent on the type of university attended. Two research questions were raised and two hypotheses were formulated and tested. The study adopted the ex-post facto design. The population of the study comprised the students in all universities in Delta and Edo states that took the UTME in 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 academic sessions and a sample size of 6000 students from three universities was selected through stratified random sampling technique. Instrument used for this study was university students’ records containing UTME scores. The data collected were analyzed using statistical mean and z ? test. The findings from the analysis of data showed that a not significant difference of 0.39 was established between the average performance of students in public and private universities; and a not significant difference of 0.38 was established between the performance of students in federal and state universities. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that the performance of university students in UTME is not dependent on the type of university attended by the students. On the basis of this conclusion, it was recommended that the current practice of taking the same matriculation examination (UTME) at the same time in federal, state and private universities should be maintained.