Post-Graduate Studies Completion Time in Vocational and Technical Education Programmes in South-South Nigerian Universities: Students’ Related Determinants

Abstract

The need for post-graduate students to complete their programmes within the stipulated time necessitated this study. Thus, the study examined students’ related determinants of post-graduate studies completion time in vocational and technical education programmes in South-South Nigerian Universities. A research question guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey research design was employed for the study. The population consisted of 204 post graduates of vocational and technical education programmes in South-South Nigerian Universities. The population constituted the sample size since it was not too large. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled Determinants of Post-Graduate Studies Completion Time Questionnaire (DPGSCTQ). The instrument was validated by three experts. To determine the reliability of the instrument, Cronbach Alphawas used to check the internal consistency and thus, the reliability coefficient of 0.78 was obtained. The data collected for the study were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions. The t-test and ANOVA were used to test the null hypotheses. Findings of the study revealed that students’ related factors such as demography, research orientation, study habit, among others, contribute to a great extent to the completion time of the students in the post-graduate programmes. It was recommended among others that post-graduate students should show commitment in their studies; avoid procrastination and poor study habits in order to make their time count in the programmes.