There have been few studies on topic difficulty in the public administration curriculum of African universities. This is further problematized by non-existent literature on the relationships between gender, future career interest and country of study on student difficulty in the study of public administration. This is a gap in the public administration literature which this study attempts to fill. The work is significant to the extent that our understanding of ‘where the shirt tights’ regarding topics that students find difficult will guide teachers and other stakeholders in applying appropriate remedies. The purpose of the study is to find out (a) what topics in public administration students find difficult to learn; (b) if there are statistically significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty in the study of public administration in African universities; (c) if there are statistically significant relationship between student’s career interest and concept difficulty in the study of public administration; and (d) if there are statistically significant relationship between country of study and concept difficulty in the study of public administration. Quantitative method was employed with sample (N = 650). The study reports bureaucracy, decentralization, public policy and politics as moderately difficult; significant relationship between gender and concept difficulty; and significant relationship between student future career interest and concept difficulty. We suggest curriculum development that would improve students’ knowledge by laying more emphasis on the perceived difficult areas in the study of public administration, gender, and encourage early students’ interest in public sector career choices.

This paper provides glimpses of transactions in chemistry classrooms in five African countries (Burundi, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, and Senegal) during the COVID-19 lockdown. Members of the secondary school community in the countries including teachers, students, and school managers were unprepared for the unprecedent demand in shift from a face-to-face to an online delivery system. From a tepid, faltering start in the early days of the lockdown in Morocco, Nigeria, and Senegal, and recognizing that the end of the lockdown may not be in sight, some minuscule progress is being made in exploring virtual delivery of the chemistry curriculum. Four major challenges to online delivery of chemistry education emerged. These are a teacher capacity deficit for delivering online education, poor internet service, an erratic power supply, and severe inadequacies in infrastructure for open and distance education. Taken together along with poor teacher motivation induced by low and irregular wages, these challenges are depressants to quality chemistry teaching during the COVID-19 period. We foresee that these challenges will persist. The harsh effect of COVID-19 on the economy of all African countries is a sign that funds will be unavailable to address these challenges in the near future. A glimmer of hope can be the reprioritization of funding resources by African governments to online delivery of education, noting that blended learning will be the new normal in the coming decades.

No abstract

The study of public administration is widely considered essential for the development of Africa's public sector. African university managers need to know if previous knowledge, groups studies, wideness of syllabi, and difficulty to follow textbooks/ slides influence the difficulty of students in the understanding of public administration. Failure to establish these precludes African universities from understanding the possibilities of these variables affecting students' understanding in the study of the course. This can impede efforts geared at making students understand the course and applying it for the development of the continent's public sector. With scant studies in the area of difficulties in the study of the course, this study will add to the literature with detailed probes of aspects of the concepts students find difficulty in the study of the course. The study is anchored on the transformative learning theory and adopts the explanatory sequential research approach using a sample N = 650 from five African universities. Using frequencies and chi square, data analysed found significant differences in the concept observed; politics, bureaucracy, public policy, ethics, arms of government, decentralization, governance, public personnel administration, and defining public administration. These difficulties were largely attributed to wideness of syllabi and lack of previous knowledge in the study of public administration. Appropriate remediating measures have been preferred to ease the difficulties in the study of public administration in African universities.

No abstract