UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' PERCEPTION OF THE PROVISION OF LEARNERS SUPPORT RESOURCES IN BUSINESS EDUCATION PROGRAMME IN NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY, AWKA, NIGERIA

Abstract

In order to executethis study, three research questions were answered and three null hypotheses were tested. Descriptive survey design was adopted. The entire population of 234 business education students in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka were studied without sampling. A four point rating scale questionnaire containing 20 items was used for data collection. Cronbach Alpha method was used to establish the reliability of the instrument which yielded coefficients of 0.91, 0.76 and 0.84 for the different clusters with an overall coefficient of 0.84. The researchers administered the instrument with the help of four research assistants to the respondents. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions and determine the homogeneity or otherwise of the respondents' while t-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance using SPSS 23.0. Findings of the study revealed that undergraduate students perceived that guidance and counselling and feedback support resources were not provided but library support resources were provided in business education programme in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The study also discovered that respondents did not differ significantly in their mean ratings on the provision of guidance and counselling as well as library support resources but differ significantly on feedback support resources in business education programme in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka based on their gender. Based on the findings of the study, the researchers concluded that guidance and counselling as well as feedback support resources are needed in business education programme in order to equip students with good decision-making and life-long learning skills to overcome unexpected barriers on their academic and career aspirations in the university. It was recommended among others that, Business Education Department and university counsellors should work together towards ensuring that undergraduate business education students are weekly scheduled for counselling sessions in order to identified andprovide solutions to their needs and challenges in the university