ABSTRACT

The study investigated participation in decision-making and effective university administration in the South East, Nigeria. Six research questions were stated and answered and six hypotheses formulated and tested for the study. The design of the study was a correlation design. The literature related to the study was also reviewed under the conceptual framework, theoretical framework, empirical studies and summary of the literature review. The entire 142 Principal Officers and the Students’ Union Executives of the universities were used in the study. Therefore, the enumerative census method was employed in the selection of the entire Principal Officers and the Students’ Union Executives of the universities for the study since the researcher can adequately manage the size of the population. The researcher developed two instruments for data collection titled: Participation in Decision-making Questionnaire (PDMQ) and Effective University Administration Questionnaire (EUAQ), which were used to elicit information from the respondents. The instruments were validated by three experts, one from Measurement and Evaluation and two from Educational Management, specialized in Educational Administration and Planning all from MOUAU. Reliability indices of 0.81(PDMQ) and 0.79(EUAQ) respectively were obtained for the instruments and the indices implied that the instruments were reliable for the study. To ensure high rate of return of the instrument, the researcher briefed six research assistants to distribute and collect the completed questionnaires from the respondents. Data obtained for the study were analyzed using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) Simple Linear regression to answer the research questions and test the null hypotheses respectively. The findings of the study revealed that there was a high extent of correlation between students’ and lecturers’ participation in decision-making on examination matters and effective university administration as indicated by the correlation coefficient r (0.78) which is positive and within the coefficient limit of ±0.71 – 0.90.; that significant relationship exists between students’ and lecturers’ participation in decision-making on examination matters and effective university administration in universities; Based on findings, the following recommendations amongst others emerged; that active participation of students and lecturers in certain matters in the universities should be approved and implemented by the university senate and council; that the university management of the universities in the South Eastern states of Nigeria should adopt a training and transformational leadership measures geared towards development of student union representatives to acquaint them with logical decisions-making skills to participate effectively in decision-making sessions in the university; That there is need for university management to avoid unnecessary exploitation of students and lecturers through unnecessary increase in tuition fee and other levies payable in the university in order to avoid students unrest which in effect will distort the university administration.