CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1Background of the study

In order to qualify for admission in the Nigerian university, a candidate must satisfy some minimum requirements. In the first place he or she must obtain five relevant credits in the senior secondary school certificate examination including English and in some cased mathematics. In addition such a candidate must sit for and obtain a minimum pass mark in the University Matriculation Examination conducted by the Joint admission and matriculation Board(JAMB) as well as pass an additional post university matriculation examination screening test (post-UME) conducted by the selected university. Notwithstanding those stringent requirements for admission, most Nigerian students still perform badly I their semester examination and indulge in a variety of examination malpractices which make the conduct of examination a tedious chore that may degenerate into life threatening or due at the worst. Malpractice committed by a candidate to make up of their deficiencies in knowledge include using prepared materials brought in by candidates as hard copies hidden in obscure in part of the body or as a soft copy stored in the memory of sophisticated handsets, sourcing answers from outside the hall through the medium of text messages, using machineries to write examinations illegally and writing examinations for which they were not registered.

This investigation was prompted by series of evidence across Nigeria. For example, in a discussion with a student after the first semester examination conducted by the department of microbiology at the university of port Harcourt during the 2010/2011 session it was revealed that a candidate, a year two micro biology student estimated to be about 30years old (official age 26) was found writing an examination for which he was not registered. Investigation revealed that he was admitted through the UME/post UME process with scores of 211 and 80 respectively and a means of 146.An evaluation of his computerized speed-sheet for years one 2009/2010 Session showed a CGPA of 0.14 .further investigation revealed that the student   had been out of school for about 10 years before finally gained admission through ‘’concession’’ to read micro biology. The observation that the candidate had a very low score in the post-UME screening test, and still gained admission prompted this study which aims at investigating the relationship between the cumulative Grade Point Average [CGPA] of students in the firth year of study and their performance in the university Matriculation Examination and post UME Screening test, a major parameter for admission.                                                                    

1.2   Statement of Problem                                                          

The relationship between UTME, Post UTME score and student academics performance in universities in Nigeria is raising a dust. Akinniyi [2011] Notes that most students who perform well in UTME get admitted into universities through the influence of their ‘god fathers’. Though the scope of god father can get them admission, work in later years. Akinniyi (2010 emphasizes that first year grade of students may not  after all show an relationship with their UTME score. It is  against this background  that this study poised to access the correlation between UTME, Post UTME and academic scores of 200 level students of the department of educational management in Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun state in order to justify whether these reductionist entrance  examination conducted for screening candidates into Nigerian Universities are necessary or not.

1.3       Research Questions

i.          What are the UME and Post UME score of students under study.

ii.         Is there any correlation between UTME, Post UTME score and student performance in their first year in the university?

iii.       What are the academic scores of student in GNS 111, EDU 111 course in the first semester of their first year in school?

1.4       Hypotheses

H01: There is no significant correlation between UTME score and academic CGPA of female student.

H02: There is no significant correlation between the post UTME score and academic CGPA of female students

H03: There is no significant correlation between the UTME score and academic CGPA of male students

H04: There is no significant correlation between the post UTME scores and the academic CGPA of male students

H05: There is no significant correlation between UTME academic CGPA of all students

H06: There is no significant correlation between average post UTME scores, CGPA scores of all the students

1.5       Purpose of the study

The broad objectives of the study is to evaluate the correlation between UTME, post UTME and academic performance score of 200 level students in Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED)

1.6       Significance of the study

This study will provide policy makers with evidence and reference materials for policies making in educations. It will also provide further researchers with a premise on which other researcher can be conducted.

1.7       Scope of the Study

It is believed that as at the time of this research, 200 level students already have their CGPA profile available with them. The selection of students is also limited to the departments in the college of Applied of Education and vocational Technology.

1.8     Operational Definition of terms and Acronym

UTME: Unified tertiary Institutions Examination

Post UTME: A screening examination that is usually done after UTME

Academic Performance: Intellectual ability of student’s performance measured by their scores in respective courses in school.

CGPA: Cumulative Grade Point Average

Matriculation Examination: It is an exam done after obtaining O’ level certificate for admission into universities

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