Factors Affecting the Academic Performance of the Students of Bowen University, Nigeria

Abstract

Aim: Students’ academic performance is an important criterion that is considered for career opportunity in academia and industry as such the onus is on students to perform well academically in order to stand a chance of holding their own in a competitive and saturated labour market. The fact however is that a number of factors within and outside the classroom combine to determine how well students perform academically. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the impact of factors such as gender, study habits, faculty of study, extracurricular activities, boyfriend/girlfriend relationship, social media usage and type of secondary school attended on students’ academic performance in Bowen University. Study Design:  A survey research design was used which employed a questionnaire capable of gathering large amount of quantitative and qualitative data. Place and Duration of Study: Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria between March 2017 and May 2017. Methodology: A self-designed survey questionnaire was administered to a sample of 380 students (144 males, 236 females) drawn from a population of 3,819 students using multi-stage sampling technique. Data collected during the survey were processed and analyzed using various statistical techniques including frequencies, percentages, independent samples t-test, analysis of variance test and Chi-Square test for independence.  Results: Survey results indicated that gender, involvement in extracurricular activities, involvement in boyfriend/girlfriend relationship, study habit and social media usage significantly impact upon student’s academic performance while the type of secondary attended and the faculty of study were found not to significantly affect academic performance of the students. Conclusion: The survey results demonstrated that some of the considered factors significantly affect academic performance of students while some do not. As such, it is important for students to develop good study habits that will enable them spend more time studying while also cutting down on the number of hours spent daily on social media. In the same vein, students should be more involved in extracurricular activities that promote fitness, total wellness and team work. In addition, relationships should be well managed to ensure that they do not negatively impact on students’ academic performance.