The relationship between training and performance of academic members of staff in institutions of higher learning: a case of National Institute of Public Administration.
Loading...
Date
2023
Authors
Chulu, Karen
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
Higher Education Authority (HEA) is mandated to coordinate the development of higher education in Zambia and promote quality assurance in the sector. It is a requirement under this Act that institutions of higher learning such as NIPA must have well qualified and experienced academic members of staff to teach, research and engage in community service (Republic of Zambia, 2013). In an attempt to comply with the requirements of Higher Education Act, NIPA started to encourage its academic members of staff to upgrade their qualifications in line with the HEA requirements. The general objective of this research is to examine the relationship between training and employee performance of academic members in institutions of higher learning, a case of National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA). The research adopted a mixed methods approach, involving both qualitative and quantitative methods. A sample of 106 was engaged, comprising six key informants and 100 students pursuing diploma programmes. Interview guides and questionnaires were used to collect data. Narrative analysis was used to analyse qualitative data while SPSS was used to analyse quantitative data.
First, the findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between training and the ability of lecturers to communicate the content of the subject well, provide students with opportunities to ask questions, make the subject interesting, treat students with respect and allocate marks fairly. However, the evidence also shows that there is a negative relationship between training and teaching such as lecturers missing lectures during scheduled sessions, not being available to attend to students during office hours, not encouraging students to work hard and not having the best interactions with students.
Second, the findings show that there is a positive relationship between training and the ability of supervisors of students’ research papers to give guidance on topic phrasing, guide students on literature review, guide students on writing of research methodology, guide students on developing research instruments, give guidance on data analysis and knowledge of the supervisor regarding the issues being researched on by students. The research recommends that in order to improve the training and performance of academic members of staff, NIPA should invest more in the training of academic members of staff in order to enhance their ability to teach and supervise students’ research papers.
Description
Thesis
Keywords
Employees--Training of. , Performance--Management. , Personnel management. , Performance standards.