ASSESSING THE MANAGEMENT OF INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMMES IN SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIAN STATE UNIVERSITIES

The main aim of this research was to assess the management of Instructional Programmes in State universities in South-South Nigeria. The research employed a descriptive survey research design. One research question and one null hypothesis guided the research. The population consisted of 13,741 academic and senior administrative staff from 6 State Universities in South-South Nigeria. The Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to determine the sample size. In the second stage sampling, Proportionate Stratified Sampling Technique was used with each University serving as a stratum to obtain the number of staff members that is proportionate, which resulted in the sample size of 389 respondents. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire designed by the researcher. Cronbach Alpha statistic was used to determine the internal consistency of the items. The result of the research, among others, showed both academic and administrative staff perceived that State Universities manage their staff personnel to a high extent or relatively well and that there was a significant difference between the mean rating scores of academic and administrative staff on the extent to which staff personnel are managed in State universities of South-South Nigeria. Academic and administrative staff perceived that financial resources were managed in State universities in South-South Nigeria relatively well. This means that the relative difficulties perceived to have been encountered by the products of State Universities in South-South Nigeria are either environmental or a result of other variables or dynamics that require deciphering for further research. The result showed that State governments, university managements, parents, scholarship boards, etcetera may confidently send their wards to State universities of South-South Nigeria also called the Niger Delta, for inculcation of university goals. The Study recommended among others that governments, and managements of State universities should increase grants (capital and recurrent) to universities, as this would help the universities to acquire facilities that would ensure the attainment of the universities mandate and vision.