Impact of Age at Admission on Academic Performance and School Adjustment of Undergraduates in a Public University in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is among countries of the world where younger students are now gaining admission into tertiary institutions. Recent admission age policy made by the Federal Government of Nigeria to peg admission age of new university entrants into 16 years and arguments that trailed the policy prompted this study. This study was embarked upon to empirically examine impact of admission age on performance and school adjustment of undergraduates in a Nigerian University. Descriptive survey and ex-post facto were the research designs used for this study. All newly admitted students into Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko for 2023/2024 academic session constituted the population of the study. The sample for the study comprised 240 100-level undergraduate students randomly selected from the six faculties of the university. A self-constructed validated instrument (r = 0.79) titled “Students Academic and Social Adjustment Questionnaire” and a proforma were used to collect data for the study. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings indicated that majority of undergraduate students have moderate level of school adjustment 137(57.1%). Age has significant impact on academic performance (t = 2.36, p< 0.05) and school adjustment (t = 2.20, P< 0.05) of undergraduate students. Sequel to the findings of this research work, it was concluded that age has something to do with the academic performance and school adjustment of undergraduate students. It was recommended among others that mature candidates should henceforth be given admission to enter public universities in Nigeria. Special universities should be established to admit under-age students that are talented.

Keywords: Admission age, academic performance, school adjustment, undergraduate students