Abstract

Tertiary education institutions, be it public or private, primarily have the objectives of teaching, learning and research including community service; hence the mandate to admit and train students. In serving this mandate, records and information relating to students are generated for administrative and educational purposes. The study carried out in two tertiary institutions, in Lagos, Nigeria was to ascertain the extent of application of management principles in the practice of administering students' records. The research design was a descriptive survey using a questionnaire (observation was made too where necessary) administered on 59 respondents as the research instrument. The population was selected using total enumeration, and data collected was analysed by a simple statistical method: Findings revealed that most records managers and officers possess University degrees but no education in records management, no institutional control over creation, maintenance and use of records, no records management policy. The study concluded that there is a need for drastic improvement of records management practices, hence recommended formulation of records management policy, provision of adequate training (and re-training) of records management personnel, and a dedicated budget for records management operations.

Keyword: Records; Records keeping; Records management; Higher Institutions; Lagos; Nigeria