EVALUATION OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ADMISSION POLICIES IN COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA (2004-2013)
ABSTRACT
This study focused on Evaluation of the Implementation of Admission Policies in Colleges of Education in Nigeria. The study sought to find out the level of implementation of JAMB cut-off mark requirement in students’ admission, examine the level of implementation of quota system of the admission policy, determine the level of implementation of JAMB 60:40 (Science/Arts) admission ratio policy, assess the level of implementation of carrying capacity in terms of available facilities and find out the implementation of staffing situation as a requirement for admission of students. Seven research questions and seven hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The target population was 2,400 which included all the Provosts, Registrars, Academic Secretaries, Deans, HODs, and Lecturers in the 24 Colleges selected for the study, 1,443 sample members responded by filling and returning the copies of the questionnaire, two each from the six geo-political zones of Nigeria. The sample was selected using the stratified random sampling technique. Data were collected by the use of a structured questionnaire and analysed using statistical package for Social Science (SPSS Version 20). Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts percentages and means were used to give general description of the data. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistics was also used to test the research hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that, candidates had satisfactory cut-off point in JAMB before they were admitted. This is in line with the Federal Government’s directive which says that candidates seeking admission to Colleges of Education have to take only one common examination, the UTME as against individual college examination. The study concludes that the number of students allocated to each College depends on the carrying capacity in terms of available facilities. Based on the findings, recommendations were made which among others include, that in the interest of this nation, the admission process should continue the way it is for now, where JAMB and the Colleges are involved in the selection of candidates, so that they would serve as check on one another and cut-down some excesses and reduce Nigerian factor syndrome as much as possible. A suggestion was made that future study should be on the evaluation of availability of instructional and infrastructural facilities in private and government owned Colleges.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Admission policies are laid down rules and regulations on how admissions are sought and obtained in a higher institution like College of Education. The principal aim of the admission policy of Colleges of Education is to offer admission to students of the highest intellectual potentials, irrespective of gender, social, racial, religious and financial considerations. Colleges of Education are dedicated to prepare qualified teachers at primary and Junior Secondary school levels, who will be responsible for educating the younger ones.
Teaching has been identified to be one of the oldest occupations known to man, but it is yet to be fully professionalized in the true sense of the term in Nigeria (Dare 2008). The real revolution in teacher education came with the Ashby commission of 1960. The Ashby Report pointed out that the country‟s manpower development depended largely on the availability of well-qualified teachers and recommended that priority attention be given to teacher education since the whole system of education depended on it. Following the recommendations in the report, two new schemes for teacher education were introduced. One was the well-qualified non-graduate Teachers‟ Certificate programme; the other was the full degree, that is, Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science education programmes. In line with the expectations of the scheme, several activities were put in place. About 7,000 graduate teachers were expected to be trained between 1960-1970 in Nigerian Universities. Five Advanced Teachers‟ Colleges were established under the emergency scheme in 1962. The Colleges were located at Ibadan (which was later moved to Ondo).
