Towards Higher Standards in Nigerian university Education the National Open University option (original) (raw)

People often ask why it takes so long to release results of examination in Nigerian universities and the answers may not be unconnected with the adopted evaluation procedures and other inherent hiccups. It is a known fact that examining the examinees is not a simple business. The purpose of examination process is to reveal the latent abilities and to assess the competence of individuals to practice the selected functions effectively and efficiently. In this paper, attempt is made to buttress the adoption and use of objective test as a panacea to late release of examination results in universities. The paper discusses different formats of setting objective test items for examinations. It succinctly explains the merits and demerits of each type of objective test formats with illustrated examples drawn from several disciplines. The paper submits that for effective and efficient use of objective test items in examination, the same care which has gone into the preparation of objective test should be carried over into the test administration and scoring. The paper emphasizes that interruptions during examination should be reduced to the barest minimum. It is imperative to obviate examination malpractice by providing proper seating arrangements and careful supervision and this can be effective if every academic staff is deeply involved in examination invigilation

This essay, inspired by a discussion in the listserve USAAfrica Dialogues Series Google group, examines the challenges of Nigerian academia in the context of book and journal publication, main instruments in the creation and dissemination of new knowledge, a central goal of the university, the other component of that goal being the development of human power represented by students, a goal pursued through pedagogy using the knowledge largely developed by universities or knowledge gained by employing methods central to the cognitive processes at the heart of university education and research. The essay explores the subject by contextualizing Nigerian academia within the economics, social contexts and philosophy of higher education in a global frame, particularly in dialogue with the dominance of global academia by the West constituted by Europe and North America.

Formal education is considered an important means of acquiring knowledge and skills (both attitudinal and technical) for developing human capital stocks; and it increases one's ability to understand and critique new ideas necessary for facilitating the adoption and/or modification of technology as fundamental to development, growth and poverty reduction in nations across the globe. As nations and the world at large relentlessly channel huge resources into educating their citizenry, assessment is identified as the main means of obtaining authentic feedback to improve students' learning, teaching and educational programs at all levels. Despite the good attributes and over reliance on assessment, opinions suggest that the ability to identify good assessment techniques is not intuitive supporting the fact that there is no one best approach to assessment. Reported cases of cheating and all kinds of manipulations surrounding conduct of assessments and/or examinations in higher education (HE), together with the advent of mass enrollments at almost all levels of education, the apparent lack of equal expansion in the facilities, non-provision of adequate logistics, and the inability of authorities to properly coordinate and/or manage

Standard fixing has always been an issue of debate in education. The interesting thing, of course, is the way standard has often always been viewed as falling or declining. Public concern over standards comes in waves and is often triggered off by activities outside the world of classroom. Using ex-post facto research design, the sample consisted of 30 secondary data of empirical studies purposively selected using the internet and hand searching of journals, articles and papers presented at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) monthly and annual seminars. Data collected were analysed using percentiles and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical methods. The results showed that a statistically significant difference existed in the standard setting procedures used for core subjects of Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE). Also, there was significant difference in the standard setting procedures used for the core Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) subjects of Mathematics, English Language and Biology with regard to student performance in public examinations (F = 9.760; p < 0.05). Further, there was a significant difference in the standards between SSCE core subjects in the proportion of the grades in relation to the effect size (F = 6.367; p < 0.05). It was therefore, concluded that the pattern of standard fixing and grade awards for the core SSCE subjects followed the norm-referenced procedures and attempts should be made by subject-experts to set questions of comparable difficulty in order to having a good spread of the syllabus from year to year as this will make for stability and consistency in the grades awarded.

Assessment of teaching and learning internationally and within Nigeria formed the crux of the paper. The focus is the basic and secondary education levels. The main objective is to demonstrate that assessment of teaching and learning are core to education delivery. The concept of assessment was analyzed. Cases of assessments in Africa were cited and compared. Then the analysis went in-depth into the frameworks for assessing teaching and learning internationally and within Nigeria. It revealed the insufficient assessments so far in the Nigerian education system and the commendable decision of the Minister of Education in 2012 to set up a national committee to development national blueprint for assessing learning achievements in Nigeria. Against these backgrounds, the paper made several recommendations that included the need to institutionalize national frameworks for assessing teaching and learning in Nigeria. It also advised that the national frameworks should be compatible with int...

V.D. Gogunsky, O.S. Savelieva. Formative role of standards for higher education in the educational process. Principles are considered competent approach to the learning process. It is shown that the competence approach causes the formation of new diagnostic tools with the transition of knowledge evaluation to determine competency of university graduates. Determined in the prescribed manner of concrete core and professional competencies of specialties is the basis for evaluating the suitability criteria graduates for future careers. Keywords : higher education , standards , diagnostic tools, expertise.