Unified Final Degree Examination (FDE) a Springboard towards Producing Employable Quality University Graduates in Nigeria

Abstract

The examination system is the most perverted establishment in the university yet it is the most critical element in evaluation and determining of employable quality graduate. Hence, this study seeks to propose a unified Final Degree Examination (FDE) that will help produce employable quality graduates and the perspectives of university undergraduates towards the proposed unified Final Degree Examination (FDE).

In other to carry out this research a survey research was adopted using an analytical research design. A sample of 280 (400 and 500) level undergraduate students were randomly selected from Tai Solarin University of Education of Education, Babcock University and, Federal University of Agriculture, during the 2016/2017 academic year through a purposive sampling technique. A self-constructed questionnaire titled "Undergraduates Perceptions of proposed unified Final Degree Examination (FDE) Questionnaire” (UPPUFDE) was the research instrument used for data collection in this study. Face validity was established by the review of the instruments. Reliability was determined by Cronbach's alpha coefficient which was 0.75.  Data for this study were analyzed through the use descriptive statistics such as percent, mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions and inferential statistics of t-test to test the hypotheses.

The findings revealed that Undergraduate students accepts the proposed objectives of unified Final Degree Examination (FDE) adoption in Nigeria. The findings further depicted that Undergraduate student agreed that there is a need to introduce a unified Final Degree Examination (FDE) system in Nigeria. The findings further revealed that level of study did not differ significantly in accepting the proposed objectives of unified Final Degree Examination (FDE) in Nigeria.

The study recommended various strategies that can be used to improve employable quality graduates in Nigeria, and also suggested further areas that should be studied in the future.