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This study evaluated the relationship between participative management practices and institutional goal attainment among Nigerian universities, with University of Calabar in focus. To achieve the purpose of the study, two research questions and two null hypotheses where developed to guide the study. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population and sample of the study was one hundred and twenty-two (122) deans of faculties and heads of departments using the census approach. An instrument titled Participative Management Practices and Institutional Goal Attainment Questionnaire (PMPIGAQ) was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts in Higher Education Administration and Measurement and Evaluation. The instrument yielded Cronbach's reliability alpha ranging from α=.75-86. Data were collected and analyzed through mean, Standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis. The results of the study showed that there is a significant relationship between participation in decision making, participation in planning and institutional goal attainment. It was recommended that managers of universities should promote participatory management practices to enhance high morale, commitment and enthusiasm among staff in the pursuit and attainment of institutional goals.

BackgroundPrevious studies assessing students’ learning outcomes and identifying contributing factors have often dwelt on the cognitive domain. Furthermore, school evaluation decisions are often made using scores from cognitive-based tests to rank students. This practice often skews evaluation results, given that education aims to improve the three learning domains. This study addresses this gap by assessing the contributions of four students’ input to their cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills (CAPs).MethodsA cross-section of senior secondary class II students (n = 870), sampled through the multistage procedure, participated in a physical survey. Students’ Inputs Questionnaire (STIQ) and Learning Outcomes Questionnaire (LOQ) were used for data collection. Based on data obtained from a pilot sample (n = 412), principal axis factoring (PAF) was performed to assess the internal structure of the instruments following an oblique rotation. The KMO value of sampling adequacy were 0.88 and 0.94, while the Bartlett’s test of sphericity were significant χ2(253) = 5,010; p < 0.001 and χ2(105) = 3693.38, p < 0.001 for the STIQ and LOQ, respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the models’ acceptability based on the maximum likelihood estimation technique. The main study used hierarchical linear regression for data analysis.ResultsFindings indicated that innate ability, health, motivation and social capital relatively and cumulatively predicted students’ overall, cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning outcomes. The proportion of variance explained by the predictors increased at different levels of the models with the addition of new variables. Students’ social capital reduced the effect of students’ innate ability regardless of their motivation and health status.Conclusion/implicationThis study has provided evidence that the four students’ inputs are crucial predictors of their learning outcomes in the three domains. This result is helpful for school management to provide services aimed at improving the school climate for students’ motivation and social capital. The result can provide policymakers with a proper understanding of the constituents of learning outcomes and how policies can be aligned to secure quality student inputs for maximum productivity in education.

The study investigated school characteristics and enrolment trend in upper basic schools in Akwa Ibom State Nigeria from 2008-2016. Two research questions were answered while two null hypotheses were also tested. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. Census technique was adopted in selecting all the 227 public upper basic schools in the area of study. An instrument tagged "School Characteristics and Enrolment in Upper Basic Schools Checklist (SCEUBSC)" was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics (percentages) was used to summarize data relating to the research questions, bar chart was used for illustrations of the enrolment pattern while independent t-test was used to test the two null hypotheses at .05 alpha level. Findings revealed that enrolment in upper basic schools in Akwa Ibom State was high in single-sex schools and boarding schools, while it was low in mixed-sex schools and day schools. Based on the findings, it was concluded that there was an upward trend in enrolment in all the schools from 2008-2013 and a downward trend from 2015-2016. It was recommended among others that research allocation in terms of personnel and infrastructures should be evenly distributed across the state as these will reduce rural-urban migration.