Perception of school discipline and compliance with rules and regulations among public university students in Cross River state, Nigeria

Introduction: Tackling students’ non-compliance with school rules and regulations to ensure the attainment of the goals of higher education has become imperative. Purpose: This paper examined the influence of perception of school discipline on compliance with rules and regulations among university students in Cross River State. Methodology: The study adopted survey design. Purposive and accidental sampling techniques were used in selecting two public universities and the study participants numbering 431 undergraduates. Two hypotheses guided the study while data was collected using questionnaire. The instrument was duly validated and reliability established using Cronbach Alpha reliability test which yielded .84 and .83 values for perception of school discipline and compliance with school rules and regulation sub-scales respectively. Data collected were analysed using population t-test for hypothesis 1 and linear regression for hypothesis 2 at .05 level of significance. Results: Results of analyses revealed that the level of undergraduates’ compliance to rules and regulations in Cross River is significantly high and that perception of school discipline significantly contributes to compliance with school rules and regulations among undergraduates. Conclusion: In view of the results it was concluded that university undergraduates have a high level of compliance to school rules and regulations. Furthermore this compliance is impacted by their perception of school discipline. Recommendations: Universities should intentionally make students aware of school rules and regulations. Furthermore students should be involved in taking decisions in matters of discipline that concern them. This will further enhance their compliance to rules and regulations