University Academic Dishonesty and Graduate Quality for National Development and Global Competitiveness: Nigerian Universities in Perspective

This study was carried out to assess how academic dishonesty in Nigerian universities influences university graduates’ quality and how these graduates contribute to national development for global competitiveness. The study area is Nigerian universities (private, state, and federal owned). The inferential survey research design was adopted for this study. A sample of 18 universities (12%) out of the 154 universities in Nigeria was selected, 6 each from among private, state, and federal-owned universities, 3 from each geopolitical zone of the country. From these universities, 1440 respondents (academic staff and students) were selected as sample. Two sets of structured questionnaires (open- and closed-ended) were administered to the respondents between February 2019 and October 2019. Simple percentage, Pearson product-moment correlation analysis, and chi square analysis were used for data analysis. Respondents listed 14 causes of academic dishonesty. A significant correlation was found between academic dishonesty and poor graduate quality from Nigerian universities. In addition, the chi square analysis showed a significant relationship between university academic dishonesty, graduate quality, and contribution to national development for global competitiveness. It was concluded that universities where academic dishonesty is perpetrated usually produce low-quality graduates who at best may contribute little to national development for global competitiveness. One of the recommendations is that the government should overhaul the curriculum content of the Nigerian educational system to meet the development challenges of the Nigerian state, while also improving funding for Nigerian public universities.