University of Nigeria Virtual Library

Serial No.

Author 1

UGWUJA, J. O.

Author 2

Author 3

Title

Students’ Performances by Gender and by Faculties in the Joint Admissions and

Matriculation Board Examinations of Universities in Nigeria

Keywords

Description

Curriculum and the Total Persons Held at Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council,

(NERD), Sheda, Abuja

Category

Education

Publisher

Curriculum Organization of Nigeria (CON)

Publication Date

17th – 20th September, 2008

Signature

STUDENTS' PERFORMANCES BY GENDER AND BY FACULTIES IN THE JOINT ADMISSIONS AND MATRICULATION BOARD

EXAMINATIONS O F UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA

BEING A PAPER YliESENTED

DR. UGWUJA J.J.O.

DEPARTMENT O F SCIENCE EDUCATION UNIVERSITY O F NIGERIA, NSUKKA

E-MAIL JUG WUJAE~YAHOO.COM.

DURING THE 21" ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF CURRICULUM ORGANIZATION d~ NIGERIA (CON)

THEME: CURRICULUM AND THE TOTAL PERSON HELD AT NIGERlA EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

COUNCIL, (NERD), SHEDA, ABUJA

17"" -20~" SEI'EMBER, 2008.

STUDENTS' PERFORMANCES BY GENDER AND BY FACULTIES IN THE JOlNT ADMISSIONS AND MATRICULATION BOARD

EXAMINATIONS O F UNIVERSITIES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This papcr disc~wsed stz~dents '. Perfor.mances by gender und by fac~~lt ies in /he ,Joint Adrnissiom ar?d ikkrtriculatiorz Bocrrd (JAiMB) cxarninc~tions irl the year 2007, using University . ofiVigericr . as a case stz~dj). A descriptive survey clesig~ wus ~ d o p t e d and dcrto wus collected sing an Inter-view scheclzrle-~vith a reliubility coeficient of 0.76. No sau7ple was d m v n since the rescllts of the turgct popc~lation of 2 6 6 4 O ( t 1 ~ q six thoz~sand six. hclndred ~rndfbrtj/) stz~denis Ivere 11sel1. Dutn was u~ulysecl using sor~ze Descriptive ar?d Injere~tinl Siniistics. Resz~lis oDtc/ined showed an~ongst others that 12433 f e m ~ l e s ~ n t I 14205 males, iotnlilrg 26640 stzldents tools purt in the examinntiom, Examinees in Fc~cdties of Meclicine and Environn~entnl design obtained /he highest nver~lge scores folloltw' by [hose in Business Adn~inistrntion and Phj).sical Sciences. Agricrllt~lre nitrncted tlre list nz1~10er of exami~ecs. It WCIS highly recon~mencled tho/ . S ~ L I ~ C M ~ S S I I O Z I I ~ be encozlrnged to sholv more interest in Agricz~ltl~re for t / ~ e Ncrtion 's Sz~rvival.

Introduction

# +

Entrance examinations for students' admission into various universities in

Nigeria, had becn the responsibilities of the various universities until 1978. This

year marked the year when JAMB was created to take over the responsibilities

of students' adinissions into universities. JAMB was created by Decrce (ACT)

No 2 of 1978 \\rhich was amcnded by Decree (ACT) No 33 of 19S9. Thc terms

of reference for JAMB'S creation are:

To conduct Matriculation Examinations for entry into a11 Degree

awarding institutions in Nigeria, and

To place suitably qualified candidates in the available places in the

insti~utions (JAMB, Registrar. 2007).

JAMB conducted her first Matriculation examination for entry into all the

degree awarding institutions in Nigeria 1978. JAMB tests students in four

different subject areas that are considered relevant for the chosen career of the

testees. A total score of 400 is the expected total score of the testees. A score of

200 and above has been considered as the pass mark for any candidate that sat

for the JAMB examinations. This has been the situation for quite some time

now. The revised National Policy on Education (NPE 2004). which forms the

hall mark of Nigeria's educational system, directly emphasized the goals

attached to University education as follows:

To co11tribut.e to national development through high level relevant man

power training

To develop and inculcate proper values for the survival of the

individual and society.

To develop the intellectual capability of individuals to understand and

appreciate their local and external environments.

To acquire both physical and intellectual skills which will enable

individuals to be self-reliant ad useful members of the society.

To promote and encourage scholarship and community service.

To forge and cement national unity and

To promote national and international understanding and interaction.

The above goals of university education are indirectly being addressed by

JAMB while setting examinations for the various faculties of universities in this

country. Screening examinations for students that pass the JAMB'S

examinations came into existences in 2005-2006 academic session. IJniversity

Administrators that introduced the screening examinations gave the following

reasons for the screening tests:

That most students that were admitted through the JAMB failed to

perform as expected on their programmes of study despite their high

performances in the JAMB examinations.

That most of the students that came in through JAMB create further

admission problems by seeking change of degree programmes soon

after their primary adn~issions into the various disciplines in the

universities.

That most of the students spend more years than the stipulated period

for the completion of their programmes there - by creating additional

problems for the universities.

The above problems not-with-standing, how -ever, the duties performed by

JAMB can not be totally condemned. The Federal government of Nigeria has

continued to recognize the two examinations since all are aiming at achieving

the goals of university education towards national development.

Problem of the Study

The problem of this study is to find out what performances of students in

the JAMB according to faculties are like. Put as a question: Are students'

performances according to faculties the same on the average? Is there any

facultv where students' performances are significantly higher or lower than the

others? What is the degree of attraction of our youths into the various

disciplines? What reasons, if any, can be advanced for such discrepancies'?

Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of the study is to find out the overall performances

of the students according to f'acilities of universities. Specifically the study

sought to find out:

The number of students that sat for the JAMB examinations according

to fxulties of Universities.

The average performances ol'the students according to faculties.

The average performances of' the students according to gender in

faculties.

Significance of the Study

This study is considered significant because of the followiiig reasons:

I. Results obtained may reveal the number of students that sat for the

JAMB according to faculties.

i i . Results obtained will also throw some light on the number that took

the examination according to gender

. . . 111. Career choices of our future leaders according to faculties/disciplines

would have been revealed also. This will help to guide parents,

students and government on the state of the art in students choice of

careers.

iv. The results will also make government to know the expected future

man power of this country as demonstrated by the choices made by the

youths.

Scope of the Study

This study covers only the University of Nigeria Nsukka. The just

concluded 2007 JAMB examinations results are used in this study.

Research Questions

The following research questions have been posed:

How many students took the 2007 JAMB examinations according to

facilities of the University of Nigeria Nsuldta?

How many males took the JAMB according to the faculties?

How many females took the JAMB according to the faculties

What is the average score of the testees according to faculties in the

Universities?

What is their average scores according to gender in Faculties?

Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses have been formulated to guide the

study.

(1) There will be no significant difference between the average

performances of the st~~dents in the JAMB examination by gender,

taking all the faculties together.

(2) There will be no significant difference between the average

performances of the students in the JAMB examination by gender

within faculties.

Method

The deign adopted in this study is the Descriptive Survey Research

Design. The design enabled the researcher to collect data on results of students

in the JAMB according to faculties using some descripti\#e statistical

procedures.

Area of Study

This study was c o ~ ~ d ~ ~ c t e d within the University of Nigeria Nsukka, main

campus.

Popnlation of the Study

The target population of this study is the population of those that passed

the Board's examinations and were qualified to sit for the University's

screening examinations for 2007. This target population is 26640. (twenty six

thousand, six and forty)

Sample and Sampling Technique

No sample was drawn since the results of the entire target population of

26640 were used in the study. The instrument used for data collection was an

interview schedule. The schedule focused on questions relating to number of

students that took the 2007 JAMB examination according to faculties of the

University, number that took the exam according to gender etc. The interview

schedule was face and content validated with the help of experts, two in

Measurement and Evaluation, and one in Educational Administration in the

University of Nigeria NsuIcka. The reliability of the instrument was determined

to be 0.76 using Kendall's coefficient of concordance technique. Those

interviewed that contrib~lted ininiensely in the provision of these relevant

infornlation are the Director of Management Information Services (MIS) and

the Admissions Officer of the University.

Method of data Analysis

Data was analysed using Descriptive Stat istics like percentages,

frequencies, mean scores, and inferential statistics like z-statistic and standard

deviation scores.

Results of the Strrcly

Results of research questions numbers 1-5 were obtained using table 1

below:

Table 1: Performances of students in the 2007 JAMB examination according to faculties of University of Nigeria Nsukka

S/N Faculties No.

Rurl;3fi:: Admin.

Educ. 53 8

6. Law -- 7. Medicine 4126

4890 8. Phy. Sc. 1807

2137 9. SOC. Sc. 1955

2529

Std. 1 Tot. / Rank Dev. Testees

- I No records

From table 1 above, answer to research question No 1 is indicated

showing the number of students that took the 2007 JAMB examination

according to fhculties. From the table, Faculties of Medicine attracted the

highest number followed by that of Social Sciences. Their figures are 9016 and

4484 respectively. They are followed by Faculties of Business Administration,

Physical Sciences, Arts, Environmental Design, Education and Agriculture in

that order. There are no records for the faculty of law. This is as a result of the

non-accreditation of the Faculty of Law during the last accreditation exercise

conducted in university (Director of Management Information Services U.N.N).

From table 1 also answer to research question 2 shows the number of

male students that took the JAMB examination according to Faculties of the

University. Faculty of Medicine recorded the highest, followed by the Faculties

of Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, Business Administration. Environmental

Design, Arts, Education and Agriculture in that order. On the whole a total of

14205 males took the examination in that year.

From the same table 1 answer to research question 3 s h o w that Faculty

of Medicine attracted the highest number that took the examination. This is

following by the Facilities of Business Administration, Social Sciences,

Physical Sciences, Environmental Design, Arts, Education and Agriculture in

that order. On the \vl~ole a total of 12435 females took the JAMB examination

that year.

Answer to research question 4 from the same table, the average scores of

the students are shown according to Faculties. Faculties of Medicine and

Environmental Design took the lead. They are followed by Faculties of

Business Administration, Physical Sciences, SociaI Sciences, Arts, Education

and Agriculture in that order.

Answer to research question 5 from table 1 shows that the average score

of male students is 226.04 with a standard deviation of 19.93 while that of

females is 225.08 with a standard deviation of 19.5 1 .

Answer to Research Hypotheses

The research hypothescs of this study sought for any significant

difference between the overall average performances of the students by gender,

taking all the faculties together. Result of this can also be obtained from table 1.

The overall average score of the females is 225.08 ivith a standard deviation of

19.81 while that of males is 226.04 with standard deviation of 19.93. Using the

z-test statistic, the z-calculated value is 2.74 while the z-critical value at a =

0.05 level is 1.96. Since z-calculated is greater than z-critical value we reject the

null hypothesis that there is no significant differences between the averase

performances of students in all faculties taken together by gender. Therefore

males performed better significantly than their female counterparts in the 2007

JAMB examinations.

Results of hypothesis 2 showed that it is only in the Faculty of

Agriculture that the averz-ge performances of male and female students differed

by 3.1. Using the z-test statistic, the z --calculated value is 0.003 while z -critical

value is 1.96. Since z-(call is less that z-critical. we accept the null hypothesis

that there is no significant difference between the Performances of male and

female students in Agriculture. All the other Faculties have little or no

difference between the performances of males and females on thc average.

These did not differ significantly between the performances of males and

females in the Faculties.

Discussions of Resu Its

Findings made in this studj. show that the Faculties of Medicine and

Social Sciences attracted the highest number of those seeking adn~issions into

the Ivory Tower. These are followeci by those seeking admissions into the

Faculties of Business Administration, Physical Sciences: Arts, and others. The

least number is in the Faculty of Agriculture. These results clearly indicate the

extent of pursuit of the youths in those disciplines where they considered as

fruitful areas, areas where they expect to prosper most after graduation is also

inline with the expectations of the Nigerian public where richness and ability to

secure immediate employment after graduation is highly ensured. For

Agriculture to attract the least number of examinees is afso inline with the

current events in this country where farming has been abandoned by the youths

for greener pastures, obtainable in cities.

Recommendations

The following recommendations have been made:

1. That more emphasis should be made in the area of Agriculture at all

lower and even higher levels of education in this country. Agriculture

was some time ago the bed rock on which this nation's economy

rested and this fact needs to be continuously emphasized to the

hearing of all future leaders of this country. A near complete

negligence of Agriculturc should not be encouraged.

2 The fact that males performed better significantly than the females on

the average, taking all faculties together shows that female should

ginger up to prove the saying that: what a man can do. a woman can

also do it or even better?

3. The hc t also that more inales than females took part in JAMB

examination in that year shows that some work need to be done in

terms of guidance counseling to encourage females to aim higher in

education.

4. Results also indicate that government should lay more emphasize on

the educational of our youths in the area of their career choices so that

a Ize soonest the much needed technological-break through can be re 1'

especial now that Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

has become the order of the day world-wide.

Suggestions for Further Studies

This work covered only 2007 JAMB examination results for Unive4sity

of Nigeria Nsultka. The screening examination results of the same set of

students is however not included due to some problems of long delays in the

classification of the results as requested by the researcher. It is therefore

suggested that fh-ther studies be conducted to compare students' performances

in both the JAMB and screening examinations. Further studies is aEso

recommended to cover other universities in this country for more information

on the career choice of our future leaders.

Conclusion

Performances of students in the JAMB examinations in the Faculties of

the University of Nigeria Nsukka in 2007 indicate that on the average students

obtained approsinlately the same scores in majority of the faculties of the

university. However Faculties of Medicine and Environmental design which

obtained approsimately the same average scores performed significantly better

than the other faculties. Faculties of Medicine and Social Sciences attracted the

highest number of the examinees with the Faculty of Agriculture attracting the

least. Others have approxinlately the same degree of participation in the

examinations. Males performed significantly better than their female

counterparts on the average when all the faculties are taken together.

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