A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF THE ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES OF FEDERAL AND STATE UNITY COLLEGES IN NASARAWA STATE

The study on Comparative Evaluation of the Academic Programmes of Federal and State Unity Colleges in Nasarawa State is an illuminative assessment of the extent to which the missions and mandates of these schools have been achieved after 10 years of operation. The purpose was to evaluate the academic programmes in order to identify areas of weaknesses and strengths in the programmes’ implementation. The study took a critical scrutiny of the curricular contents under input, process, output and impact variables in accordance with CIPOI model of evaluation. To guide the study, eight (8) research questions and hypotheses were formulated and which were answered using frequency distribution table, the computation of mean, standard deviation, and for the inference, t-test and ANOVA were used at 0.05 level of significance. The sample for the study consists of 160 teachers and students (40 teachers to 120 students). Stratified Random Sampling Technique was used to select sample. The Illuminative Evaluation design was used. A structured eight sections questionnaire was used to collect needed information. The Validity and Reliability indices of the questionnaire equal 0.76 and 0.77 respectively. Based on the analysis of the results, the study found remarkable or statistical significant difference in school enrolment, average class size, teachers’ quality, teacher distribution by subject, instruction methods, assessment practices and trends of students’ performance in SSCE (WAEC and NECO) between 2007 and 2009, and found similarity only in the area of teaching resources’ availability in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The implication of these findings were discussed and recommendations and suggestions for further research work were made on the basis of the results of the investigations. These include that Federal Government of Nigeria should live up to the expectation of Nigerian masses when establishing Federal Unity Colleges especially in area of resources inputs (Teaching resources in Sciences). There should be compulsory registration of teachers with Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) as a condition for posting to State Unity Colleges, among others.