THE PERCEIVED INSTITUTIONAL AND STUDENTS' GOALS AND EFFECTIVENESS OF PROGRAMS AND SERVICES IN SELECTED NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

The purpose of this study was to survey the opinions of students, administrators, and faculty at three Nigerian universities on what constitutes primary educational goals for students and on effectiveness of related programs and services. The opinions of students were compared with that of the administrators/faculty. Students at the different universities were compared using age as a variable. The administrators and faculty at these universities were also compared.;A questionnaire developed by the researcher was the instrument used for this study. This instrument was divided into three sections: (1) demographics, (2) items on educational goals, (3) items on related programs and services. The items are rated on a 5 point Likert type scale. They were grouped into six response variables to be analyzed in answer to some of the research questions. Means, frequency distribution and analysis by variance procedures were employed to analyze the data.;Majority of the students, administrators and faculty considered goals for emotional/moral, practical competence and cognitive learning development as important. The only programs and services considered by a majority to be effective were the ones for cognitive learning development. There was a significant difference in the opinions of students and administrators/faculty on the importance of goals for cognitive learning development and on the effectiveness of programs and services for emotional/moral and practical competence development. There was no significant difference in the opinions of the administrators/faculty at the different universities on the importance of educational goals. There was a significant difference in their opinion of the effectiveness of programs and services for emotional/moral development. There was significant difference in the opinion of students of different ages at the three universities on the importance of goals for practical competence. There was also significant differences in their opinions on the effectiveness of programs and services for attainment of educational goals.;It was concluded that the educational goals for the full development of the whole person were considered important. The programs and services for the attainment of the goals were ineffective except those for cognitive learning development.;Based on the findings of this study recommendations were made for activities which will raise awareness of policy makers, administrators, educators, and the public about the importance of these goals and for generating more effective programs and services to attain them. Recommendations for future research were also made.