Assessment of the Implementation of Sustainable Open Access Repositories in Nigerian Universities

PurposeThis study aims to validate a proposed conceptual model for the implementation of sustainable institutional repositories (IRs) in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative approach shaped the survey research design. This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis to evaluate the proposed model. The population of the study comprises 117 librarians, information technology staff and researchers knowledgeable about IR implementation status across 14 public universities in Nigeria. The data was collected using an online survey. The Smart-PLS v3.3 software was used to facilitate the analysis.FindingsThe findings indicate that the nine identified factors of the IR sustainability model have a significant influence on the implementation of sustainable IRs. This signified that the model has adequately depicted the relationship between the implementation of sustainable IRs and the identified factors.Originality/valueThis study provides an integrated synthesis of factors that influence the implementation of sustainable IRs. This study also presents the first-ever empirically validated model for sustainable IRs. The findings of this study addressed the challenge of implementing sustainable IRs and institutionalized the idea of IRs’ sustainability assessment.

The licensing of Universities is not just a yardstick or criteria to set up and operate a university system in Nigeria.Certain quality indices set standards, operational guides and discipline needs to be ensured to satisfy the minimum academic standards.The accreditation of such university needs to be put into consideration and embarked upon to ensured quality assurance of the academic programmes.This paper examined academic programme and quality assurance in public universities in southwest Nigeria.Descriptive research design was adopted.To carry out the study a research instrument titled "Questionnaire on Academic Programme and Quality Assurance in Nigerian Public Universities: (QAPQANPU)" was administered to elicit information from respondents.The population of the study comprises all academic staff in public Universities in Southwest, Nigeria.The sample of the study comprises three hundred and fifty-one (351) respondents.Purposive sampling technique was used to select four public universities in Southwest, Nigeria.Three research questions were formulated, it was revealed that accreditation had positive impact on quality assurance, the level of participation of academic staff in accreditation exercise was low and the level of accreditation of academic programme was very high.Two hypotheses were tested, hypothesis one was tested using t-test and hypothesis two was tested using Analysis of variance (ANOVA).The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.The two hypotheses were not rejected.The findings revealed that there was no significant difference between male and female lecturers' perception of the impact of accreditation on university quality assurance, also there was no significant difference between the perceptions of the impact of the accreditation by academic staff based on their status.Based on the findings of this study it was recommended that academic programmes in Nigeria universities should be accredited from time to time through the Nigeria University Commission (NUC) to ensure quality assurance and satisfy the minimum academic standards (MAS).Moreover, more academic staff should participate in accreditation exercise, once they have the experience and are qualified to encourage wider participation in various discipline/fields of study.Also government who is the proprietor of these public universities should provide adequate funds to improve the academic standards in Nigerian Universities.

The objective of the study is to investigate the influence of institutional factors on and institutional repositories’ usage by lecturers in federal universities in Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive design. A total of five hundred and forty copies of questionnaire were administered on respondents from the selected federal universities in Nigeria. The population of this study comprised all lecturers in the federal universities selected for this study totaling 7,591. The multi stage sampling procedure and purposive sampling technique was adopted for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The instrument tagged “Institutional Factors and Use of Institutional Repositories’ Questionnaire (IFUIRQ)” consists of three sections. The test-retest method was employed using the Cronbach’s reliability technique to determine the reliability of the instrument. Findings from the research revealed organizational culture, environmental and motivational factors as the dominant and prevalent institutional factors that support research in federal universities in Nigeria while inaugural lectures, seminar papers, photographs, notebooks, illustrations and drawings and newspapers were the most prevalent types of information materials available in the knowledge and institutional repositories of Federal universities in Nigeria. The study further revealed that the major purposes of using institutional knowledge repositories by the lecturers include; for preparation of seminar/lecture notes, writing papers/proposals, seminars presentations, research works and lecture series. This research established occasional institutional repositories’ usage by the lecturers and a significant positive relationship between institutional factors and institutional repositories’ usage such that an improvement in institutional factors would lead to increase in institutional repositories’ usage. It is recommended that the formulation and implementation of adequate university-wide policy that would encourage and supports institutional repositories’ usage by the university management.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the facilitating conditions (FCs) and how these FC affect institutional repository (IR) sustainability practices in public universities in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachA survey research design was adopted in this study. The study population comprised 542 librarians from public universities that have IRs across Nigeria. A sample size of 230 librarians was determined using Taro Yamane’s formula. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the respondents in three stages, which were purposive, stratified and purposive sampling. A structured, validated questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential (simple and multiple regression) statistics at a 5% level of significance.FindingsThe result revealed that the availability of FCs (ßeta = 0.459, t(211) = 7.719, p = 0.000) has a positive and significant influence on IR sustainability in public university libraries in Nigeria. The F-test (1, 223) value of 59.582 shows that there is sufficient evidence to substantiate the model’s usefulness in explaining IR sustainability. The R2 (0.211) indicates that 21.1% of the variation in IR sustainability is explained by the availability of FCs in public university libraries in Nigeria. The finding suggests that the availability of FCs is a vital predictor of IR sustainability in public university libraries in Nigeria. The result also depicts that out of the eight parameters that measure the availability of FCs, it was current awareness of IR that had a positive and significant influence on IR sustainability.Originality/valueThis study concluded that ICT skills and FCs are contributory factors to IR sustainability practices by librarians in public university libraries in Nigeria. It was recommended that university administrators formulate policies that promote the sustainability of IR and provide adequate funds to support IR sustainability. Furthermore, the library management in public university libraries in Nigeria should drive content recruitment and create awareness of the IRs among students and faculty to ensure continued use.

The study investigated use of Institutional Repositories (IRs) among lecturers in Nigerian Universities. It examined the level of awareness, frequency of use, preferred archiving method, purpose of use of IRs and challenges of use of IRs among lecturers. Five universities in Nigeria that had functional institutional repositories for at least three years as at 2015 were purposively selected. Five faculties were purposively selected from which 1151 lecturers were randomly selected. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data and descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Findings revealed that majority of the lecturers were aware of IRs, they accessed materials from IRs on daily and weekly basis while they deposited their works into IR on annual and bi-annual basis. It was also revealed that lecturers preferred mediated archiving and they used materials from IRs to prepare lecture notes and research works. Fear of copyrights infringement, plagiarism and lack of awareness were major challenges of use of IRs. The study recommended that the university libraries should check the copyrights status of scholarly works to ensure non-infringement, organise more awareness programs on IRs and mediated archiving method should be used to encourage lecturers to submit their scholarly works. Keywords: awareness, institutional repositories, lecturers, mediated-archiving, Nigerian universities

The study was undertaken to investigate the impact of control on student evasion of school fees in Nigerian Universities. The purpose was to examine the trending events in the collection of school fees in Nigerian Universities, the position of the Governing Councils of the universities in Nigeria on non-payment of school charges by students in the universities and the major factor that aid evasion of school fees in the universities. The study was necessary because of the impact that control will have on the evasion of school fees in Nigerian universities especially with the current hike in the charges emanating from the withdrawal of education subsidies in higher education in Nigeria. It was a comprehensive study on Nigerian universities. Information for the study was obtain through the internet and brain-storming. In the brain-storming the researcher interacted with 500 respondents at University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Taraba State University, Jalingo. It was an exploratory research that would provide information for future researchers in Student Accounts Management in Universities in Nigeria. It was found that all Public and Private Universities are making exorbitant charges of school fees in Nigeria. There is huge debt profile arising from non-payment (evasion) of school charges by students in Nigerian Universities. The major factor that aid evasion of school fees in Nigerian Universities is the management flexibility in the enforcement of deadlines for payment of school fees by the students. It found that at these universities the major cause of student’s evasion of school fees is management flexibility on deadlines for payment of fees. Also, the trending events in Nigeria is the recent withdrawal of educational subsidies on higher education of which the parents and guardian are finding it very difficult to cope with astronomical increases in school fees due to low level of income. It was concluded that education is no more public goods hence, proposals for enormous increase in Public Universities in Nigeria have assumed alarming and frightening dimension in the country. Therefore, it was recommended that appropriate control measures of the management should be affected for prompt collection of school fees. Contract should be given to Software Companies to assist in the collection of school fees to check fraud in the process. Regular accounting and audit report are necessary to ascertain the state of fees collection to reduce the level of evasion of school fees by students in Nigerian universities.

This paper examined the various electronic learning platforms adopted by undergraduates in Nigerian Universities which include both private and public universities in Nigeria and its related challenges during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. The coronavirus’ enormous consequences, which affected all countries and industries, influenced around 91% of the world's students. The objective of this study is to investigate the experiences of private and public university undergraduates in a Nigerian University, to determine whether there is a significant disparity in the accessibility, affordability, and ease of use of the various e-learning platforms that were adopted during the global pandemic lockdown. The study employed the survey method in eliciting useful information from undergraduates in Covenant University, and in the University of Lagos. The population of the study consisted of 374 undergraduates from both schools. Due to the inaccessibility of students whose lecturers were on industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the questionnaire was physically distributed to students at Covenant University, while a Google form was generated for students at the University of Lagos. Data was analyzed using descriptive techniques in frequencies, percentages, and linear regression analysis. Results from the study revealed that 68.1% of students at Covenant University utilized more e-learning platforms like Moodle, Coursera, Zoom, and WebEx unlike their counterparts at the University of Lagos who used only Moodle and Zoom with 43.6%. Also, 87.5% of Covenant University undergraduates made use of their laptops mostly for their e-learning classes while 56.4% of their counterparts in the University of Lagos mostly made use of their smartphones. Findings revealed that students from public Universities faced major challenges such as unstable internet, limited financial capability in buying devices such as laptops, and lack of skill and competence in navigating the e-learning platforms while students in the private universities on the contrary had relatively stable internet connectivity, could afford laptops and smart devices and had the requisite skills to properly navigate their e-learning platforms. The study concludes by recommending the provision of substantial financing that will aid in the acquisition of relevant technology to promote and support e-learning in public universities in Nigeria. It also suggested the inclusion of public University students with adequate training on how to navigate the e-learning platforms, thereby equipping them with the requisite skills needed to maximize the benefits of e-learning. The study emphasizes how the use of e-learning can be an effective sustainable learning solution for current and future situations by the main actors, educators, and learners. In the long run, the Nigerian educational system would be better prepared to face future emergencies that may warrant the adoption of remote learning.

Inefficiency has been a major issue battling the service delivery of non-academic staff in most public universities in Nigeria and this has greatly affected the academic and research outlook of Nigerian universities. Interest in the study was to determine the extent to which induction, demonstration, on-the-job and formal training which are all elements of employee training and development enhance managerial efficiency by looking at employee productivity and quality of service delivery. The study adopts a convenience and stratified sampling technique to select 293 non-academic staffs in selected public universities in Nigeria and the analysis was carried out using the structural equation model (SEM). The results revealed that on-the-job training has a significant negative relationship with the quality of service delivery in Nigerian universities (t=-4.454), (p<0.05) and β=-0.20) which could be because most Nigerian universities do not deliberately place new employees to learn directly from a current employee in order to improve their performance. Hence, the study demonstrates that the only way to resolve inefficiency among non-academic (administrative) staff in public tertiary institutions is to integrate effective training into employee career management and adopt employee performance evaluation process as contained in the private organizations.

This study is an assessment of factors influencing news consumption on the internet by undergraduate students in Public Universities in Nigeria. The study looks the amount of time spent consuming news on the internet, the type of news consumed, medium of news consumption on the internet by undergraduate students in Nigerian Universities. Also accessed are the challenges of news consumption on the internet by undergraduate students in Nigerian Universities. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) by Venkatesh et al (2003) was adapted in this study, while the quantitative and qualitative research approach with survey design as the strategy of inquiry. Respondents for the study were selected from four similar faculties in two Universities in Lagos State using the convenience and accidental sampling technique. Findings from the study revealed that a large proportion of the students that participated in the study consume news on the internet several times in a day. The study also revealed that the mobile phone is the most popular device used to access and consume news on the internet by the students. Entertainment news was found to be most popular type of news consumed, while Facebook is the most popular platform used for news consumption by these students. Poor quality of internet connection was highlighted as the challenge to news consumption on the internet by the students. All the four UTAUT constructs were found to positively influence the student’s intention to consume news on the internet and the actual use of the internet for news consumption. The study concludes that amount of time spent consuming news on the internet among undergraduate students of public Universities in Nigeria is above average, internet connection is however still a major challenge for the students. Hence it is recommended that Government and internet service providers work together to improve the quality and coverage of internet connection and also review current internet subscription rates and provide more affordable rates.

This paper examined inhibiting factors to academic success among first year students in Nigerian public universities. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses, it used an ex post facto design with a survey approach. The population for the study involved all the first-year students in four universities in Delta and Edo states, Nigeria. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 50 students from the faculty of Education in each university. A convenient sample size of 200 respondents was used. The data collected was through a questionnaire titled “Exploring inhibiting Factors to Academic Success among First Year Students’ in Nigerian Universities” (EIFASAFS), data obtained was analyzed with the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The questionnaire was made up of two sections, A and B, were used to elicit responses from students. They yielded a reliability coefficient of .80, .76, .78 and .73 for sections A, B, C, and D respectively, which was considered adequate. The mean, and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while the hypotheses were tested with t-test and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistics at 0.50 level of significance. The findings revealed that inadequate finance, institutional and student factors were inhibiting factors to academic success among first year students in public universities in Nigeria, the main coping interventions adopted include; religion and prayer (3.24), choosing roommates wisely (3.17) and prompt and regular attendance at lectures. A significant difference was found between age and gender on coping strategies adopted by students. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the university management should provide loan schemes, adequate orientation programmes, among others.

The study examined the trend and social costs of educational wastage in public universities in Nigeria between 2008 and 2012. One major challenge confronting university education in Nigeria is that the total number of students enrolled for the academic session does not graduate at the specified period which has humongous social and private costs implication. Wastages across universities and areas of specialization have constituted a management problem and a drain at the limited resources in the Nigeria universities. As a survey method of descriptive research design and ex-post facto, it makes use of some indicators for measuring the wastage rate and the cost in Nigeria universities. Data were collected through the use of a validated self-designed questionnaire titled, Record and Financial Inputs and Output Questionnaire (SRFIOQ) with a reliability coefficient of r = 0.89. The study covered six universities (3 Federal and 3 States) among the eleven public universities in South West Nigeria selected through a purposive simple random sampling method. The participants cut across students in eight faculties of the sampled universities. Data were analyzed using frequency counts, simple percentage score and bar graphs and inferential statistics tools to test the research hypotheses for the study. The study revealed that there were variations in the wastage rate indicating a high percentage wastage rate which exists among faculties in various institutions under study. On the average, social cost on wastage was higher on male undergraduates with N 451,951,012.60 than that of females N 302,807,178.40. There was a significant difference in the social cost of wastages between male and female undergraduates (t-cal= .512< t-val= .413; P

Purpose: The study examines the moderating effect of funding on the management control system and performance of south-western public universities in Nigeria. Design/Methodology/Approach: Research design for the study is cross- survey; this is the most appropriate research design, being a study on perception objectives in nature. The study was carried out in fourteen (14) public universities in the Southwestern region of Nigeria. Findings: funding activities does not significantly moderate the relationship between result control and performance of public universities (β = -0.042; t = 0.648; p &gt; 0.259). However, a negative beta of 4.2% indicates every one increment in the present order of finance will lead to a reduction of 4% from the relationship between result control and performance of public universities in south west Nigeria. Implications/Originality/Value: The study discovered that present funding scheme moderates the relationship between action and cultural control and does not moderate the relationship between personnel and result control. The study therefore recommends that the government should ensure disbursement of sufficient funds to the university to attain the much need performance.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between smartphone addiction, mental health and sleep quality among undergraduate pharmacy students in a Nigerian public university.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate pharmacy students in a Nigerian university. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires, including Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short version, Patient Health Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the chi-square test and the Pearson correlation. Probability values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.FindingsA total of 410 undergraduate pharmacy students participated in the study, giving a response rate of 95.57%. The prevalence of smartphone addiction, depression and anxiety symptoms were 40.24%, 28.30% and 23.66%, respectively. Most students had poor sleep quality (96.10%). The prevalence of smartphone addiction had a moderate positive correlation with the severity of depression (r = 0.363, p < 0.01) and anxiety (r = 0.261, p < 0.01) symptoms. Nevertheless, smartphone addiction showed no connection with sleep quality (r = 0.022, p = 0.663).Research limitations/implicationsThe study was conducted in a single public university in Nigeria, hence this might limit its generalizability. The provision of mental health support within universities could help address the high prevalence of smartphone addiction, mental health issues and poor sleep quality.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this was the first study to examine smartphone addiction among pharmacy students in a resource-limited setting with multicultural and multiethnic groups.

Evidence on the use of social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram as learning support to enhance students’ performance is scarce in sub-Saharan Africa, where there is limited application of such platforms for learning. Much rarer are studies analyzing the determinants of using WhatsApp and Telegram as learning support to enhance students’ performance in the region. We used cross-sectional data from 206 students from public universities in Nigeria and applied econometric frameworks (such as Pearson’s correlation and multivariate regression analysis) to analyze the determinants of social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram as learning support among university students in Nigeria. We identified six constructs of using WhatsApp and Telegram as learning support in Nigerian public universities, which include performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, institutional and political influence, guidance and counseling achievements, and facilitating conditions. These constructs were acceptable/accepted by the students. The determinants of the use of WhatsApp and Telegram to enhance learning among students include age, gender, wealth status of parents/guardians, student’s faculty/program, location of school, and level of student in school. The constraints to students’ usage of WhatsApp and Telegram for learning support include high cost of Internet, poor connectivity and epileptic/poor power supply to charge phones, mistrust, lack of structure and coherence, and irresponsible use of social media. The results have significant implications for educational institutions, policymakers, and stakeholders seeking to promote the effective use of mobile learning technologies.

Background: The higher education sector is making a conscious effort to integrate information and communication technologies (ICTs) into the academe with a view to improving teaching, learning and access to knowledge. Unfortunately, the use of ICTs in teaching by academics in Nigerian universities is far below expectation.Objectives: The aim of this article was to report on a study that examined the underlying factors determining the use of ICTs in teaching by academics in private and public universities in Nigeria by using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as a theoretical lens.Method: A mixed method approach involving the use of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews was adopted for the study. Data were collected from 267 academics in 3 faculties and 10 key informants who were in managerial positions at the University of Ibadan and Covenant University.Results: Regression analyses indicated that only facilitating conditions (FCs) (β = −0.345, t = −3.221, p = 0.002) have significant influence on the use of ICT in teaching at the University of Ibadan. However, both effort expectancy (EE) (β = 0.380, t = 3.116, p = 0.003) and FCs (β = −0.281, t = −2.327, p = 0.023) have significant influence on the use of ICT by academics in Covenant University. The qualitative study explicates these factors: institutional policy, technological infrastructure, simplicity of use, fund and organisational support as success factors for ICT use in teaching. Further findings revealed that age had an effect on EE and FCs amongst academics at the University of Ibadan, but out of all the demographic factors, age emerged as the only variable that had an effect on social influence amongst academics in Covenant University.Conclusion: The study concludes that stakeholders in higher institutions should give adequate attention to these underlying factors: FCs and EE for optimal success of ICT use in teaching. The findings of this study have far-reaching implications for policy makers within the educational environs and intervention strategies on the part of the university stakeholders in supporting ICT use in teaching.