Students’ Academic Performance: An Inquiry into Limited First Class (Honours) Division within the University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana

Job Asante

doi:10.7176/jep/10-11-05

Abstract

Globally, academic performance is a key indicator of measuring the quality of an academic institution. This study assesses the factors that influence academic performance of students in public universities in Ghana. Specifically, it was restricted to the University for Development Studies (UDS), Wa Campus. The study adopted the case study design involving 17 respondents with the view to review, process and offer interpretation to data gathered from both secondary and primary sources with the objective to establishing critical factors which have given rise to the limited First Class (Honours) Division among students. The findings reveal that the limited First Class (Honour) Division among students is a reflection of students’ performance which is linked to critical input factors such as; poor lesson preparation and delivery, overcrowded lecture halls and poor lecturing schedule time among others. This paper therefore recommends that the Ministry of Education (MOE) should provide UDS with teaching and learning resources. Additionally, UDS administration should provide all necessary infrastructure and equipment for effective practical training for the students. Besides, UDS Management should organise regular workshops and in-service training to introduce all lecturers periodically to more effective teaching strategies. Heads of Department should also monitor and appraise lecturers input by students’ performance in respective courses. The University Management should ensure that lecturers teach their respective specialist subjects so that their students will understand what they are taught. This may improve on the number of First Class degree holders produced yearly by UDS. Keywords: Degree Classifications Examination Challenges, Academic Performance, First Cass Students DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-11-05 Publication date : April 30 th 2019

Highlights

BACKGROUND OF STUDYBefore the coming of the Arabs and Europeans to Africa, the African people had developed their own systems of education; the systems varied from one community to the other, their goals were often strikingly similar (Sifuna & Otiende, 1980)
Student’s poor academic performance or obtaining lower grades may result in intolerable levels of student satisfaction and leads to cost of education (American Journal of Educational Research, 2014)
Wa Campus is located in Wa, the capital of Upper West Region and has three main faculties namely, Faculty of Integrated Development Studies (FIDS), Faculty of Planning and Land Management (FPLM) and School of Business and Law (SBL)

Summary

Introduction

Before the coming of the Arabs and Europeans to Africa, the African people had developed their own systems of education; the systems varied from one community to the other, their goals were often strikingly similar (Sifuna & Otiende, 1980). This notwithstanding, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states that no person shall deprive a child of access to education or any other thing required for his or her development. Governments spend huge amounts of their resources on education One such benchmark is student performance in school. Many researchers have identified demographic, socio-economic, family and school factors as variables contributing to students’ academic performance (American Journal of Educational Research, 2014)

Methods

Results

Conclusion