Postgraduate Students’ Economic Status for Academic Performance in University of Port Harcourt

Abstract

The study examined postgraduate students’ economic status for academic performance in University of Port Harcourt. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The research adopted descriptive design. The population of the study comprised all the 1320 postgraduate students of 2022/2023 academic session. The sample of 235 student respondents was drawn through stratified sampling technique. Postgraduate Students’ Economic Status for Academic Performance Questionnaire (PSESAPQ) was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by experts in test and measurement. The following reliabilities were determined through Cronbach method. Postgraduate Students’ Economic Status for Academic Performance was 0.82. Out of 235 copies of questionnaire administered, 230 copies were properly filled and retrieved. The research questions were answered using mean, standard deviation (Sd) and rank order statistics while hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using z-test statistics with criterion mean of 2.50. The findings among others showed that all the items in table 1 were accepted as the extent poor remuneration negatively influence postgraduate students’ academic performance and there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of male and female students on the extent poor remuneration influence postgraduate students’ academic performance in University of Port Harcourt. The researcher concluded that components of economic status (poor remuneration and cost of living) are possible factors that negatively influence postgraduate students’ academic performance in University of Port Harcourt. It was recommended that government should adequately remunerate the employees for academic performance.