TIME MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF UNDERGRADUATES IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN EDO AND DELTA STATES

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between time management practices and academic performance of undergraduates in public universities in Edo and Delta states. The purpose was to determine the level of academic performance of undergraduates in Edo and Delta states’ public universities and to establish a relationship between time management of the students and their academic performance. Three (3) research questions were raised, one of which was hypothesized and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted the ex-post facto design using correlation approach. The population of the study comprised 15,906 full-time 300 level undergraduates in public universities in Edo state with 10,338 students and Delta state with 5,568 students who were admitted in the 2014/ 2015 academic session. Stratified and purposive sampling procedures were used to select 815 students which accounted for 10% of the total undergraduates (300 level) students in both Edo and Delta states. Two sets of checklists were used to collect relevant data for the study. The first was titled: “Non-instructional Undergraduates’ Activities and Time Spent Checklist (NUIATSC)”. The second checklist was titled: “Academic Performance of Undergraduates’ Checklist (APUC)”. The data collected were subjected to statistical analysis using percentage, Pearson Product Moment Correlation coefficient (pearson, r). The result of the analysis showed that majority of the undergraduate students in public universities in Edo and Delta states spent their time on non-academic related activities during their non-instructional time. The academic performance of undergraduates in both Edo and Delta states were generally moderate. The relationship between time management practices and students’ academic performance in both Edo and Delta states was found to be positive and significant. Based on the findings, it was recommended that university authorities should always endeavour to organize workshops on time management skills for students especially during the orientation week. University authorities should censor all non-academic programs such as religious, socio- political activities and commercial/ business engagement on campuses since academic excellence is their ultimate goal.