IMPACT OF NON-ACADEMIC STUDENTS ON THE SOUTH EASTERN NIGERIA UNIVERSITIES AND ASSOCIATED PROBLEMS

Abstract

This study investigated the Impact of Non-academic Students on the South Eastern Nigeria Universities and the Associated Problems. The main purpose of this study is to identify who these non-academic students are, how they came to be and the associated problems they pose to the university system. Federal university with commission, visions and missions located in the South East of Nigeria provided the target population. South Eastern Nigeria is one of the flash points of students crises hence it was selected. Two research questions and two hypotheses were developed to give answers to the study. The hypotheses were tested at the probability of 0.05 level of significance. A structured questionnaire titled Impact of Non-Academic Students and Associated Problems (IONASAAP) was by the researcher. The questionnaire was face validated by three experts in Measurement and Evaluation, Psychology and Educational Management and was tested for reliability using Cronbach alpha method. A value of 0.79 was obtained. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The sample subjects comprised 120 university staff who work closely with students and 480 students selected by proportionate stratified random sampling from the four mature federal universities in the region. The research questions were analyzed with means and standard deviations while t-test was used to analyse the hypotheses. The findings of the study showed that family factor, peer group influence, inability of students to adjust to the new academic environment are responsible for the creation of non-academic students. It also showed that the presence of the non-academic students is a source of various problems to the universities which include, disruption of academic programmes theft, illegal occupation of facilities, rape, armed robbery and many others. Article visualizations: