Physical Resource Utilization and Internal Efficiency in Nigeria Universities

Abstract

Inrecent times, concerted efforts have been made on resource allocation and utilization to achieve internal efficiency in the university system. This study investigated the relationship between physical resource utilization and internal efficiency in Nigerian Universities. The population for this study comprised all the 32 public universities (Federal and State) established before year 2005 and which offered courses in humanities and sciences only. Twenty four universities, that is, 75% were selected for the study through stratified random sampling technique. Furthermore, 2700 out of 4084, that is, 66.11% of the total population of senior lecturers and above in the faculties of humanities and sciences in the sampled Nigerian universities were selected as participants for the study through proportional stratified random sampling technique. Checklists titled, “Resource Utilization Checklist” (RUC) and “Internal Efficiency Checklist” (IEC) were used to collect relevant data from the participants. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the conduct of the study. Data gathered were statistically analyzed, using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. Time Utilization Rate (TUR), Space Utilization Rate (SUR), Global Utilization Rate (GUR), Refined Cohort Wastage Rate (RCWR) and Graduation rate were computed from the data to answer the research questions. Also, Pearson product-moment correlation statistic was used to test the research hypothesis formulated in the study at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study indicated that Physical resource in the Nigerian Universities were over utilized with an average of 187%, 133% and 160% for Space Utilization Rate (SUR), Time Utilization Rate (TUR) and Global Utilization Rate (GUR) respectively. A significant relationship exited between physical resource utilization and internal efficiency in Nigerian universities. Based on the findings of this study, it was recommended that the facilities available in the institutions should be improved upon in order to accommodate more students. Concerted efforts should
be made to reduce student wastage rate to the barest minimum by ensuring that admission is based more on merit.