EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE COLLEGIATE SYSTEM OF ADMINISTRATION IN COLLEGES OF MEDICINE IN NIGERIAN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES
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Date
2012
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Abstract
The collegiate system of administration was introduced into the Nigerian university system to
ensure synchronization, decentralization and democratization of operations and devolution of
powers. It is expected to aid the process of decision making and implementation as against
the bureaucratic problems associated with the faculty system of administration. In spite of
these advantages, the collegiate system in Nigeria universities is practised only in the
colleges of medicine. Even in these colleges, little priority has been given to independent
assessment of the system. This study, therefore, evaluated the effectiveness of the collegiate
system of administration in Colleges of Medicine in Nigerian Federal Universities.
The study adopted survey research design. Two thousand, two hundred and twenty-eight
respondents consisting of 385 management, 748 academic, and 1095 non-academic members
of staff were selected using stratified random sampling technique from the Universities of
Ibadan, Benin and Nsukka. Collegiate System of Administration Assessment Scale with six
sub-scales: Decentralisation, Devolution of Powers and Delegation Scale (r = 0.73), Decision
making and Implementation Scale (r = 0.69), University Image Scale (r = 0.82), Expansion
of Scale of Operations Scale (r = 0.88), Coordination and Cross- Fertilisation of Disciplines
Scale (r = 0.91) and Assessment of Resources Requirements Scale (r = 0.78), was used.
These were complemented with nine Key Informant Interview (KII) sessions with the
sampled staff. Five research questions were raised and answered. Quantitative/qualitative
data were analyzed using chi square and content analysis respectively.
A high percentage of respondents were of the opinion that collegiate system of
administration was effective for decentralization of university operations (85%), devolution
of powers (83%) and delegation of authority and responsibility (82%). Acceleration of the
process of decision making and implementation accounted for (84%) coordination and cross
fertilization of related disciplines (84%) and realization of the academic objectives of the
universities (86%). Among the three colleges sampled, respondents from the College of
Medicine, University of Ibadan were most favourably disposed to the collegiate system of
administration in terms of decentralization of university operations (x2 =28.41, df = 6 p<0.05)
devolution of powers (x2
=13.42, df = 6 p<0.05), acceleration of the process of decision
making and implementation (x2
= 14.72 df = 6 p<0.05). The KII showed that the respondents,
generally, were favourably disposed to collegiate system of administrations. Moreover, they
were of the opinion that the system had impacted positively on the administration of colleges
of medicine in Nigerian federal universities but that there is evidence of lack of proper
understanding of the rules guiding the system.
The collegiate system positively enhanced the decision making and implementation,
decentralization, devolution of powers, delegation of authority, cross-fertilization of
disciplines, images of universities and their colleges of medicine and the expansion of scale
of their operations. Therefore, Government and the university management should ensure
that every arm of the federal universities in Nigeria embrace the use of the collegiate system
of administration, while the training and retraining of staff should be vigorously pursued to
ensure proper effectiveness of the system.