Strategic Planning Procedure: An Imperative for Effective Management of Higher Education in Nigeria

Research reports and observations have indicated the absence of quality planning in the management of higher education in Africa. This appears to be one of the major constraints to the effective management of higher education in majority of the institutions all over Africa. The paper examined “strategic planning procedure as an imperative for effective management of higher education in Nigeria”. Two hundred respondents (i.e. 100 lecturers, and 100 administrative officers) from five Federal Universities from south east geo-political zone of Nigeria were sampled and used for the study. Four research questions guided the study. Four point Likert-type rating scale with 21 – item researchers ’ self-made questionnaire was used for data collection. Mean computation was used to analyzed the research questions. Pearson Product Moment was used to establish the reliability of the instrument. Findings include: low level achievement of higher education goals, identification of seven-item elements of effective management, identification 8-item components of strategic planning procedure and its low level application in higher institutions in Nigeria