University administration and effective academic leadership; Nigerian perspective

Abstract

Victoria C. Onyeike and Atuwokiki Sam Jaja

University education is a critical level of education that is saddled with the responsibility of providing the much needed skilled manpower for any society. University administrators are the engine room of universities they form the vital workforce within these institutions and are made up of human resources who utilize material and financial resources to accomplish set academic goals. In order to ensure effective academic leadership in these universities, it is important to determine the conditions under which university administrators currently operate and measures that can be adopted to improve their standard of operation in federal and state universities in South-South Nigeria. This paper was designed to clarify these issues on university administration in South-South Nigeria and its effect on academic leadership. The study population consisted of lecturers in 11 federal and state universities in South-South Nigeria, from which a total of 880 respondents were sampled. A descriptive survey research was used to discover the opinion of lecturers on three research questions which bothered the researcher on this issue. The study revealed that university administrators in federal universities adopted democratic style of leadership, while in state universities the participation style of leadership was the most commonly used style. The research also revealed that there is a need to improve the funding mechanism of university administration in South-South Nigeria for enhanced teaching, learning and research to take place. Also better remuneration and compensation for administrators are seen as important strategies to transform university administration and provide effective academic leadership in South-South Nigeria.