MANAGEMENT OF CAMPUS FACILITIES AND ENHANCING THE DELIVERY OF HIGH-QUALITY SERVICES IN UNIVERSITIES IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study adopted a correlational research design to measure the relationship between the management of campus facilities and enhancing the delivery of quality service in universities in Rivers State. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study was 2,385 academic staff from the three public universities in Rivers State consisting of the University of Port Harcourt 1238, Rivers State University 717, and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education 430 (2019 Nigerian University System Digest). A sample of 716 academic staff representing 30% of the population was drawn using the proportional stratified sampling techniques. Three researcher-designed questionnaires titled Management of Campus Facilities Scale (MCFS) and Quality Service Delivery (QSDS) were used to elicit responses from the respondents using the 4points Likert scale of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD), 4,3,2,1, respectively. A test of internal consistency was carried out using Cronbach's alpha to determine the reliability of the instrument. The internal constituency reliability coefficients of 0.82 and 0.85 were determined for MCFS and QSDS respectively. Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to answer the research question and hypothesis at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study reveal that investing in the professional development of facility management staff is vital for ensuring high-quality services. Training programmes and workshops can enhance their skills, knowledge, and understanding of best practices in facility management, leading to improved service delivery and effective maintenance practices. The study recommends that universities should enhance security by implementing robust security measures to ensure the safety of students, faculty, staff, and campus facilities among others.