INFLUENCE OF CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES ON UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS' ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY, ILE-IFE, NIGERIA: AN IMPLICATION FOR REBRANDING HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

The study identified the various co-curricular activities common among undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria; determined the perception of undergraduate students towards participation in co-curricular activities and finally examined the influence of co-curricular activities on undergraduate students' academic performance. These were with a view to providing information on undergraduate students' academic performance through involvement in cocurricular activities in the study area. The study adopted the survey correlational research design. Population of the study comprised all undergraduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. The study sample comprised 650 undergraduates as respondents across the thirteen Faculties in the University. A multi stage sampling procedure was used to select the sample size. From each Faculty, 50 students were selected using simple random sampling technique. From each Faculty, two Departments were selected using simple random sampling technique and from each selected Department, 25 students were randomly selected to take part in the study. In all, 650 undergraduates constituted the sample for the study. Two research instruments were used for data collection. They are: Students' Co-curricular Activities Questionnaire (SCAQ) and students' previous semester results. Data collected were analyzed using frequency count, simple percentage and regression analysis. The results of the study showed that 63.28% of the respondents are actively involved in various co-curricular activities like athletics, drama, dance, literary and debating clubs, football, volleyball and the likes in the study area. The results further revealed that 83.83% of the respondents had good perception towards co-curricular activities and the results finally showed no significant influence of co-curricular activities on undergraduate students' academic performance in the study area (F=0.278, P>0.005). The study concluded that co-curricular activities are not major factors that could influence undergraduate students' academic performance.