MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR HIGHER INSTITUTIONS THROUGH ETHICAL AND VALUES EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

This paper explores the strategies and challenges of integrating ethics and values education into the management and administration of higher education institutions in Nigeria. The study adopted a survey research design. The population of the study is made up of all the academic staff and Degree learners of the Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education (AIFUE) which stood at 3640. This study adopted the purposive sampling technique in selecting 360 respondents comprising of 80 Lecturers and 280 final year Degree Learners to whom the researcher-made questionnaire was administered. The instrument titled: Strategies of Managing Higher Education through Ethical and Values Education for Re-engineering Sustainability (SMHEEVERS) is 4 point likert structured rating scale which was validated for content and face validity by 3 experts. The questionnaire which recorded a reliability coefficient of 0.86 was administered face to face to the 360 respondents by a researcher assistant who also retrieved same. The data collected were analysed with mean and standard deviation and the null hypotheses were tested using the z-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance.  The research concluded that Policy Reforms and Ethical Governance, Leadership by Example, Curriculum Development and Integration of Ethics, Stakeholder Engagement and Value Re-orientation Campaigns are the management strategies while Corruption and Examination Malpractice, leadership deficits and poor governance, Erosion of Moral Standards among Students and Staff and Curriculum Limitations forms the Challenges of managing in Higher Education through Ethical and Values Education for Re-engineering sustainability and recommended that effective management of higher education must extend beyond the delivery of academic knowledge to the intentional inculcation of ethical values in students, staff, and institutional frameworks and more.