Effect of Emotional Intelligence on the Academic Achievement of First Year University Students, Nigeria (original) (raw)

The persistent low academic achievement of fresh university students has created problems among university administrators over the years. These have forced educators to look at other areas of students' achievement that are non-traditional. This study determined the effect of emotional intelligence skills on the academic achievement of first year university students in Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye. From a population of 5,506 first year students admitted, a sample of 100 participants was randomly assigned to emotional intelligence learning system and control groups by simple random sampling technique. Students' Academic Achievement Test was used for data collection. Hypotheses were tested using analysis of covariance and t-test at .05 level of significance. The results of the study showed that there is significant differential effect of emotional intelligence treatment on the academic achievement of first year students. It was also revealed that effect of emotional intelligence treatment on the academic achievement of participants is not significantly influenced by gender and ethnicity. These findings suggest that excellent performance in academic is the key targets and goals for each student regardless of ethnic background and gender disparities. Thus, there is the need for curriculum experts to develop an affective instructional curriculum that incorporates emotional intelligence learning with the objective of enhancing academic achievement and personal success of students.