Teaching and Supervision as Determinants of Post-Graduate Studies Completion Time in Vocational and Technical Education Programmes in South-South Nigerian Universities

Abstract

This study was necessitated due to the need for post-graduate students to complete their programmes within the stipulated time. It examined the extent teaching and supervision determine post-graduate studies completion time in vocational and technical education programmes in South-South Nigerian Universities. One research question guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was employed for the study. The population consisted of 204 graduates of vocational and technical education programmes in South-South Nigerian Universities. There was no sampling since the population was manageable. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Method of internal consistency was used to determine the reliability of the instrument using Cronbach Alpha and the reliability coefficient of 0.79 was obtained. The data collected for the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation to answer the research question and further determine the closeness of the respondents’ mean ratings. The t-test and ANOVA were used for testing the null hypotheses. Findings of the study revealed that teaching and supervision contribute to a great extent to post-graduate studies completion time in vocational and technical education programmes. Based on the findings of this study, it was concluded that teaching and supervision factors outstandingly determined post-graduate studies completion time in vocational and technical education programmes. It was recommended among others that, heads of school of post-graduate programmes should ensure that, only lecturers that are committed to work should be assigned as post-graduate course lecturers and supervisors.