International Journal of Educational Science and Research (IJESR) ISSN(P): 2249-6947; ISSN(E): 2249-8052 Vol.

4, Issue 1, Feb 2014, 63-68 TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ACADEMIC PERFORMACE OF UME AND DIRECT ENTRY STUDENTS AT GRADUATION IN SCIENCE EDUCATION SECTION, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY ZARIA, NIGERIA
LAWAL, T. ELIZABETH Department of Science Education, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT
The study investigated the academic achievement of students admitted into Science Education Programmes through the University Matriculation Examination [UME] and Direct Entry [NCE] at graduation. The population of the study was the entire students of B.Sc. Ed programmes in Science Education Section comprising 100 - 400 level totally 2841 and the sample was the graduating classes for three consecutive years totally 893 students. Research questions were set, one of which was; is there significant difference in the class of graduation of students admitted through UME and Direct Entry (NCE, Diploma and Remedial)? And one of the Hypotheses stated was that;- there is no significant difference in the academic achievement of students admitted through UME and Direct Entry at the graduating point. The data used were final results of second semesters for three years. The Research Design was expo-facto and the statistics used was t-test and chi-square analyses. The findings showed that the Direct Entry students graduated with better CGPA than the UME students which was significantly different. One of the recommendations is that students should attend a pre-degree training before entering the University so as to produce graduates with better results and mature minds to plunge into the future of greatness.

KEYWORDS: Direct Entry [NCE], University Matriculation Examination [UME], Research Design INTRODUCTION
The academic achievement of students admitted into the universities has been of great concern to all who has interest in the education industry in Nigeria. The decay in the educational system calls for solution and hence the search for the most desirable and best way to select candidates into Nigerian Universities for best results (Emaikwe, 2012). Students are admitted into the tertiary institutions of higher learning through University Matriculated Examination (UME), and Direct Entry (NCE, Diploma and Remedial) in Nigeria. The UME students are fresh from the secondary school and are admitted into 100Level to spend four years while the Direct Entry are admitted to 200Level to spend three years for a B.Sc. Ed in the programmes in Science Education. The Direct Entry students had undergone three years to graduate while the UME students spent four years. The needed experience for students admitted through the UME in order to be at par with the Direct Entry students at 200Level had been built into the courses mounted at 100Level. By the time the students entered 300Level, there should not be any difference. Therefore, at the graduation there should not be any difference academically. The two at this stage were supposed to perform equally well, since they were exposed to the same academic environment and were taught by the same lecturers. Studies conducted on the mode of admission and academic achievement had shown that statistically, there was no significant difference in their academic achievement (Adeyemi, 2009; Emaikure, 2012; Gbore, 2013).

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Statement of the Problem For some years, the graduating students results had been fascinating because of the type of the class grades students come out with. This study therefore, investigated the performance of these two groups of students admitted into the universities in Nigeria. The mode of admission and Cumulative Grade Points Average [CGPA] formed the data for this study. The graduating results for three consecutive years (2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12) were used to generate data for the study. Those who came in through UME are identifiable by their registration number U09EY100- while the Direct Entry has registration such as U09EY200-. The graduating class lists contained names of grandaunts already grouped into classes of graduation based on their Cumulative Grade Point Aggregate (CGPA) such as: Table CLASS First Class Second Class Second Class Third Class Pass Fail CGPA 4.5-5.0 3.5-4.49 2.4-3.49 1.5-2.39 1.0-1.49 CGPA below land or those with carryovers

Failed courses are referred to as carryovers which are usually core or compulsory courses that must be passed before graduating. Objectives of the Study The objective of the study is to: Compare the academic achievements of students admitted through UME and Direct Entry into programmes in Science Education. Research Questions The following research questions were set to guide the study, which were: Do the UME and Direct Entry students graduate with same results? Is there difference in the classes of graduation of UME and Direct Entry students? Do the Direct Entry students perform better academically at the point of graduation than the UME? In which of the programmes do the UME perform best? Which of the programmes has the best results? Do the Direct Entry students performed equally in all the programmes? Will the male have better CGPA than the female at the graduating point?

Hypotheses There is no significant difference in the graduating classes of UME and Direct Entry students. The UME students would perform equally in all the programmes in Science Education

Comparative Study of Academic Performance of UME and Direct Entry Students at Graduation in Science Education Section, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria

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There is no significant difference in the performance of Direct Entry students at graduation in all the programmes in Science Education.

There is no significant difference in the performance of male and female students CGPA at graduating point

METHODOLOGY
Research Design The study adopted the ex-post facto and correlational research design - which involved the students of the Department of Science Education of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. The design is not experimental but systematic approach involving the use of variables as found in the phenomena. This was first used by Campbell and Stanley (1966) to take care of both the cause and effect which had already occurred (Gbore, 2013). Population of the Study The population of the study consisted of all graduating students in the five programmes in Science Education Section for three consecutive sessions 2009/2010, 2010/2011 and 2011/2012. The total population was 893 students. Sample and Sampling Technique The sample for the study was purposively selected from the population. The Science Education Section has five programmes leading to Bachelor of Science in Education in Biology, Chemistry, Geography, Integrated Science and Physics. The instruments used for the study were the mode of entry and the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) at the point of graduating.

RESULTS
The data used were students mode of entry and graduating results for three consecutive years. T-test and Chi- Square analyses were used at 0.05 level of significance to test the null hypotheses and the results are shown on the tables below: Table 2: Comparison of Graduating Class for UME and Direct Entry Class of Degree 1st Class 2nd Class Upper 2nd Class Lower 3rd Class Pass Fail Total Percentage Ume Direct 0% 0% 9.6% 12.8% 25.5% 32.3% 16.5% 19.9% 3.2% 1.4% 45.2% 33.7% 100% 100%

Table 3: T-Test Analysis of the Performance of UME Students and Direct Entry Students 2009/2010 - 2011/2012 Variables N Mean Scores 4.49 4.11 Standard Deviation 1.498 1.478 Df 891 T-Cal. 3.781 T-Crit. 1.962 P-Value 0.000 Remark Significant

UME 376 DIRECT 517 Significant at P0.05

From Table 3, the t-calculated value (3.781) is greater than the t-critical value (1.962) with df 891 at p0.05.

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That is, t-cal (3.781) > t-crit (1.962). In other words, the p-value (0.000) is less than 0.05 level of significant. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected. This means that there is a significant difference in the performance of UME students and Direct Entry students. Table 4: Chi-Square Analysis on the Performance of UME Students at Graduation in all the Programmes in Science Education 2009/2010 - 2011/2012 Group Size 2nd class upper 36 2nd class lower 96 3rd class 62 Pass 12 Fail 170 Significant at P0.05 Df X2cal X2crit P-Value Remark X2cal > X2crit H0 Rejected

201.1

0.711

0.000

Table 4 reveals that the X2cal (201.1) is greater than the X 2crit (0.711) with df = 4 at 0.05 level of significance. In order words, the p-value (0.000) is less than the 0.05 level of interval. Therefore, null hypothesis is rejected which means that there is a significant difference in the performance of UME students at graduation in all the programmes in Science Education in the three sessions considered. Table 5: Chi-Square Analysis on the Performance of Direct Entry Students at Graduation in all the Programmes in Science Education 2009/2010 - 2011/2012 Group Size 2nd class upper 66 2nd class lower 167 3rd class 103 Pass 7 Fail 174 Significant at P0.05 Df 4 X2cal 190.727 X2crit 0.711 P-Value 0.000 Remark X2cal > X2crit H0 Rejected

Table 5 reveals that the X2cal (190.727) is greater than the X2crit (0.711) with df = 4 at 0.05 level of significance. In order words, the p-value (0.000) is less than the 0.05 level of interval, therefore, null hypothesis is rejected which means that there is a significant difference in the performance of Direct Entry students at graduation in all the programmes in Science Education in the three sessions considered. Table 6: T-Test Analysis of the Performance of Male and Female Students in Ume Mean Scores Male 62 4.47 Female 48 4.56 Significant at P0.05 Variables N Standard Deviation 1.388 1.443 Df 108 T-Cal. 0.348 T-Crit. 1.962 P-Value 0.728 Remark Not Significant

In Table 6, the t-calculated value (0.348) is less than the t-critical value (1.962) with df=108 at p0.05. That is, t-cal (0.348) < t-crit (1.962). In other words, the p-value (0.728) is greater than 0.05 level of significant. Thus, the null hypothesis is retained. This means that there is no significant difference in the performance male and female students in UME. Table 7: T-Test Analysis of the Performance of Male and Female Students in Direct Entry Variables N Mean Scores 4.45 4.15 Standard Deviation 1.494 1.472 Df 159 T-Cal. 1.211 T-Crit. 1.962 P-Value 0.228 Remark Not Significant

Male 107 Female 54 Significant at P0.05

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In Table 7, the t-calculated value (1.211) is less than the t-critical value (1.962) with df = 159 at p0.05. That is, t-cal (1.211) < t-crit (1.962). In other words, the p-value (0.228) is greater than 0.05 level of significant. Thus, the null hypothesis is retained. This means that there is no significant difference in the performance male and female students in Direct Entry. Answers to Research Questions From the Tables above, the findings had provided answers to the research questions as follows: Research Question 1, 2, 3 could be answered by Table 4.2, which showed that there is a significant difference in the results and classes of graduation. In case of Questions 4 and 5, the answers could be found from Table 4.3, where the X2 showed that there is significant difference in the UME students' performance in the various programmes. And for Question 6, the direct Entry students did not perform equally in the five programmes. While the males and females CGPA showed no significant difference as shown in Tables 6 and 7

DISCUSSIONS OF THE RESULTS

The analysis of the results showed the predictive strength of the mode of entry qualifications on the type of class at graduation among Science Education students. The findings showed that there was a significant difference in the type of graduating class of the tow modes considered which tally with the findings of Adeyemi (2009), Edhereven (2009) and Gbore (2013). Ezema (2006), Long (2005) and Emaikwu (2012) indicated a no significant difference in the mean academic achievements of students admitted into the university through Matriculation Examination, Remedial Programmes and Direct Entry. The study also showed that in the five programmes in the section, both the UME and Direct Entry students did not perform evenly but performed in different programmes differently. The difference notices could be due to various factors as pointed out by Long (2005) and Mgbake (2006); and not only based on their mode of admission. Mgbake (2006) identified students' academic success to be a function of the study habits, self concept and the I.Q of the individual rather than their mode of admission. In this study, the findings showed that there was a statistical significant difference in the academic achievement of the UME and Direct Entry students as shown in Table 3. From the results, the hypotheses I, II and III indicated greater values of t-calculated and X2-calculated than the t-critical and X2-critical respectively therefore, the rejection of the Null Hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The hypothesis IV is rejected because the performance of the male is not statistically better than the female counterpart which could be ascribed to effort put in by the students rather than their mode of admission into the university. This finding does not tally with the studies of Kelly (2007) who reported that boys are ahead of girls in every branch of science while there are evidences on ground of the existence of gender gap in Amarican Schools (Glenn and Ashley (2009). This submission is also pronounced in Nigeria showing that there is evidence of gender inequality academically (Emaikwu, 2012), but this study shows otherwise.

CONCLUSIONS
Considering the results and findings in this study, one can conclude that the mode of admission into the university could be predictor of the final or graduating CGPA of programmes of Science Education Section, Department of Science Education, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria. Also, the efforts of students after admission could also be responsible for their final graduating results. It is also evident in this study that when the students put in much efforts in their study habits and have good self-concept, success could not be said to be gender bias.

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One the findings from this study could be that the matured students were able to grapped their fact academically while the UME who just coming from the secondary schools played around until later. This could be the reason for the significant difference in the CGPAs at the graduating point. It can be therefore, recommended that there should be a kind of pre-degree training before entry into the universities.

REFERENCES
1. Adeniyi, M.O & Mangrwat, S.E (2000) Entry Qualification as Determinants of Final Performance of Federal College of Education, Pankshin 2. Adeniyi, O.T (2003). Academic Performance of Nigerian Students with different Entry Requirements. Journal of Technical Teacher Education, 1(3), 79-86 3. Adeyemi, T.O (2009). Mode of Entry as a Predictor of Success in Final Year Bachelor of Education Degree Examinations in Universities in Ekiti and Ondo States, Nigeria Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research Vol 4(1) 2009 4. Edhereveno, S.E (2009). Mode of Entry and Degree Performance of Delta State University Under-Graduates Journal of Research in National Development Vol 7(1) 2009 5. Emaikure, S.O (2012). Assessment of the Impact of Students Mode of Admission into University and their Academic Achievement in Nigeria International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development Vol. 1(3) 2012 6. Ezema, T.U (2006). A Comparison of the Degree Results of two-year and four-year students of Business Education, with Implication for Programme Planning: A Case Study of University of Nigeria, Nnuskka. Unpublished Thesis of University of Nnsukka 7. Gbore, L.O. (2013). Relationship between Cognitive Entry Characteristics and the Academic Performance of University Undergraduates in South-West Nigeria Journal of Educational and Social Research Vol. 3(1) 2013 8. Glenn, E. & Ashley, S. (2009). The Gender Gap in Secondary School Mathematics at high Achievement Levels: Evidence from the American Mathematics Competitions. Journal of Economic Perspective American Economic Association, 24(2), 109-128. Retrieved from www.nber.org./papers/w15238 9. Long, T. O (2005). Academic Achievement of Nigerian Undergraduates as a function of Previous Educational Experiences. Western African Journal of Education, 18(2), 111-115