Influence of corrupt practices on academic achievement of students in public universities in Anambra state

The study examined the influence of corrupt practices on academic achievement of students in public universities in Anambra State. Four research questions and four null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Relevant literatures were reviewed which gave more insight in building the study. The study was a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study comprised of 21,782 students in the two chosen public universities (Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Awka; and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), Igbariam) in Anambra State. The sample for this study comprised 325 students as respondents. Simple random sampling technique was adopted in chosing students from the two public universities in Anambra State. The researcher-developed instruments titled: “Corrupt Practheices Questionnaire (CPQ) and “Students Academic Achievement of 100 level students in Edu 101” was used to collect data for the study. The instruments were duly validated by experts. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach alpha statistics. The reliability coefficient value of .86 was obtained and was considered adequate for the study. Data collected were analyzed using mean analysis for research questions and the hypotheses that guided the study were tested using paired sample t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance .The study showed that bribery, plagiarism, significantly influence the academic achievement of students in public universities in Anambra State to a high extent. The study concluded that corrupt practices influence academic achievement of students in public universities in Anambra State. Based on the findings and conclusion, the study recommended among others that the government and educational planners should ensure that lecturers pay is comparable with those of their counterparts in other establishments. This would help in checking the incidence of lecturers looking elsewhere for money to meet their basic needs and which might lead to absence or reduction in corrupt practices.