Evaluating the Effectiveness of Academic Supervision in Public Universities in South-West Nigeria: A Comparative Study of Lecturer and Graduate Student Perspectives

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of academic supervision within Nigerian public universities by comparing the perspectives of both supervisors and graduate students. Its primary objective is to identify and quantify the perceptual gaps between these two groups across key dimensions of the supervisory relationship, including supervisor accessibility and approachability, discrepancies in the expected versus actual frequency of feedback, divergent understandings of support adequacy, and differing approaches to mentorship. The research employed a non-experimental survey design, utilising two instruments—the Supervision in Nigerian Public Universities Questionnaire (SNPUQ) and the Academic Supervision in Nigerian Public Universities Questionnaire (ASNPUQ) which were adapted from the established Advisory Working Alliance Inventory developed by Schlosser and Gelso (2001). Data were collected from a sample of 292 postgraduate students and 115 lecturers across six Nigerian public universities. Analysis using descriptive statistics and an independent samples t-test revealed a statistically significant divergence in the mean scores of supervisors and students on the core constructs of supervision. The findings expose a critical misalignment in perceptions concerning accessibility, approachability, feedback, and the humanistic aspect of mentorship, indicating a fundamental weakness in the foundation of postgraduate education. In light of these results, the study strongly recommends that public tertiary institutions proactively address this issue by moving beyond assumed supervisory competence and instituting formal, mandatory professional development programmes for academic staff.