Student Spirituality and Academic Performance: A Case Study of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana

Abstract

There have been varied views about the role that spirituality plays in academic success. Some people either agree or disagree out rightly on the matter. Others are also of the view that the role that spirituality plays in academics is dependent on the level of the student’s involvement. These varied views are prevalent because there hasn’t been as much research on the link between spirituality and academic success as there has been in the link between spirituality and stress, psychology, coping mechanisms and stress. According to Cox (2011), “There is only limited research examining the potential link between spirituality and academic performance and even the research that exist seems to ask more questions than what it answers and is extremely inconsistent.” This research was a case study designed to find out the relationship the spirituality of students has with academic performance in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. The population of the study was approximately 40,000. The convenience technique was used to sample 163 students. The views were sampled through a questionnaire. The questionnaire largely comprised of Likert-Type questions. An additional 16 Item Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES) adopted from Cox (2011) was used to measure the spiritual levels of students. The study revealed that there was no significant relationship between student spirituality and academic performance. However, spirituality served as a source of inspiration to focus on studies and hard work. The study also showed that, students viewed spirituality in religious terms and tightly knitted spirituality to religion. Recommendations made from the study was that, students who had spiritual inclinations should not see their spirituality as a sure way to success. Students could also learn the virtue of focus and hard work in spirituality and apply it to their advantage in academics.