CERTAIN EDUCATORY FACTORS AS INDICATES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

Social Sciences and Educa.on Research Review, Volume 12, Issue 2 – 2025 484 2025, vol. 12, issue 2, 484-491 RESEARCH ARTICLE hGps://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17975837 CERTAIN EDUCATORY FACTORS AS INDICATES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES Olugbenga Timothy AJADI Department of Educa0onal Management, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria ORCID: 0000-0003-0751-0786 Abstract A crucial criterion for evaluating the caliber and efficacy of college or university is intellectual development. Concerns regarding graduates' level of intellectual engagement, analytical proficiency, and inventive ability continue to exist in Nigerian public universities, prompting inquiries into the educatory factors that support intellectual development. This paper investigates the calibre of faculty and connection between caliber of faculty and students' intellectual development in Nigerian public universities. The study used a quantitative, correlational survey design with a population of all undergraduate and faculty at 135 Nigerian public universities. The sample comprised 1,200 respondents selected through multi-stage sampling technique from six selected public universities in the country. Questionnaire titled Educatory Factors Assessment Questionnaire (EFAQ) with reliability index of 0.87. and 0.91 reliability for faculty calibre and Intellectual Development Scale (IDS) respectively index was used to elevate responses from the respondents. The study found majority of faculty in Nigerian public universities are holders of PhD, followed by master's or M.Phil. while very few are holders of bachelor's degree. In addition, a statistically significant, robust, and positive relationships was established between faculty calibre and student intellectual development. The study concluded that teaching experience and faculty credentials accurately predict students' intellectual development, which in turn improves critical thinking, problem-solving, reflective judgment, engagement, and self-directed learning. These factors have a direct impact on academic success in public universities in Nigeria. Keywords: Student Intellectual Development, Faculty Calibre, Educatory Factors: Faculty Educa=onal Qualifica=ons, University Teaching Experience Introduc.on Universi.es are essen.al for expanding knowledge, encouraging crea.vity, and developing the intellectual abili.es of people who support both domes.c and interna.onal compe..veness. Beyond gran.ng degrees, the main goal of university is to help students improve their cri.cal thinking, problem-solving, cogni.ve, and independent capabili.es to make decision. This duty is especially important in Nigeria since the na.on aims to produce graduates who can handle the intricate socio-economic and technological issues of the twenty-first century. Even while intellectual development is crucial to higher educa.on, ques.ons have been raised about how well Nigerian public universi.es are doing this. According to business feedback and na.onal quality assurance assessments, many Nigerian graduates lack profound intellectual engagement, analy.cal competence, and inven.veness. For example, a comprehensive evalua.on revealed that just 37% of graduates passed cri.cal reasoning examina.on, whereas 66% passed numerical reasoning tests. This suggests significant deficiencies in the problem-solving and decision-making abili.es required for the profession (Ekugo, 2025). Employers also frequently cri.cize university graduates for lacking cri.cal soe skills and being unprepared for the demands of the real world, labeling the discrepancy between knowledge and competence a systema.c failure (Ogunlowo, 2025). Social Sciences and Educa.on Research Review, Volume 12, Issue 2 – 2025 485 This discrepancy between the competencies demonstrated by graduates and the desired results of university educa.on begs crucial ques.ons regarding the ins.tu.onal elements affec.ng students' intellectual development. Kolo et al. (2023), noted that numerous educa.onal characteris.cs that can have a major impact on intellectual growth have been uncovered by research conducted in a variety of educa.onal situa.ons. Administra.ve efficiency, which reflects the promptness and openness of ins.tu.onal procedures; the calibre of teaching staff, which includes academic creden.als, university teaching experience; and the campus learning environment's suitability, which includes infrastructure quality, safety, and academic culture. Undergraduates' intellectual development may be aided or hindered by the way these factors interact. According to Iweh et al. (2021), there is a no.ceable lack of empirical research that focuses only on Nigerian public universi.es, even if studies conducted in other na.ons have looked at similar aspects in connec.on to student results. The majority of current research only looks at these factors separately, failing to provide a thorough, quan.ta.ve analysis of their combined effects on intellectual development. Closing this disparity is essen.al to crea.ng focused, research-based interven.ons that can improve academic quality and beGer equip graduates to meet the demands of contemporary society. Therefore, this study examines a few educa.onal parameters as markers of intellectual development in public universi.es in Nigeria. It seeks to ascertain the caliber of the teaching staff, and the rela.onship of the faculty calibre with intellectual development of the students. It is an.cipated that the results would give stakeholders, university officials, and educa.on law makers prac.cal advice on how to improve the intellectual development of students in public universi.es in Nigeria. Statement of the Problem Universi.es are hubs for intellectual development, turning out graduates who can solve issues, think cri.cally, be academically proficient, and make independent decision. This is essen.al for Nigerian public universi.es to remain globally compe..ve. The success of the higher educa.on system is called into ques.on, though, as reports, employer feedback, and evalua.ons reveal a discrepancy between predicted graduate capaci.es and professional performance, with employers poin.ng to shortcomings in reasoning, crea.vity, and independent thought. Students' intellectual development is influenced by a number of ins.tu.onal elements, including as the educa.onal qualifica.ons and university teaching experience of faculty in public universi.es in Nigeria. However, students' chances for intellectual development are hampered by a lack of qualified, competent and experienced faculty. Few studies have looked at these factors' individually and rela.onship on intellectual growth at Nigerian public universi.es, despite the fact that studies elsewhere have looked at their effects on educa.onal outcomes. Without a thorough knowledge of how these elements interact to impact students' intellectual development, reforms become fragmented, reac.ve, and ineffectual, impeding evidence-based ini.a.ves. Hence the study inves.gated the calibre of faculty and connec.on between caliber of faculty and students' intellectual development in Nigerian public universi.es. Intellectual Development in the University The expansion of a child's capacity for thought and reasoning is known as intellectual development generally. It has to do with how individuals arrange their thoughts, ideas, and minds in order to make sense of the world they live in. Many .mes, the phrases cogni.ve and intellectual development are used interchangeably. Although intellectual development goes beyond the development of par.cular cogni.ve structures and func.ons to include concerns about the efficacy, efficiency, and produc.vity of a living system aGemp.ng to accomplish its objec.ves in a complex and occasionally dangerous environment. Intellectual development is obviously linked to gaining informa.on through formal educa.on and experience, but it also refers to the development of a mind that is more universal and transferable than knowledge, skills, or exper.se that are strictly defined. The term "intellectual development" describes how a person's ability to think, reason, relate, judge, conceptualize, and so on evolves as a result of growth and experience. To David (2010), intellectual development is the process by which people acquire higher mental func.ons that enable them to successfully navigate life's obstacles and lead fulfilling lives, such as comprehending abstract concepts, developing sophis.cated skills, organizing their thoughts logically, and solving new problems. All university faculty have a fundamental responsibility to foster the intellectual development of their students. They are in charge of helping students reach their full poten.al in rela.on to the competencies required by the university, suppor.ng the delivery of the curriculum, and giving them the chance to become experts in the courses they have chosen. Intellectual development, according to Kuh (2008) and Biggs (2014), includes the development of higher-order thinking, analysis, synthesis, evalua.on, and crea.vity as well as disposi.ons like self-regulated Social Sciences and Educa.on Research Review, Volume 12, Issue 2 – 2025 486 learning, curiosity, and reflec.ve judgment. Students' intellectual development is significantly influenced by university teaching variables and is not just a result of their personal ap.tude. Intellectual development is increasingly framed, according to King and Kitchener (2004), as the process of moving toward reflec.ve judgment, where students acknowledge the tenta.ve nature of knowledge, synthesize various viewpoints, and draw well-founded conclusions that demonstrate a sophis.cated and nuanced way of thinking. Intellectual development, according to Rose and Moore (2024), is a process that allows students to move from dualis.c thinking to contextual rela.vism, where they are able to cri.cally assess other points of view within par.cular situa.ons, use autonomous judgment, and acquire self-awareness. Calibre of Faculty and Intellectual Development University facultys' calibre is complex and includes both professional competence and professional integrity in their dealings with students (Ngeno, 2019). According to recent research, this defini.on is expanded to encompass mul.-faceted competences, par.cularly digital literacy, which has grown in importance in post-pandemic higher educa.on (Macfarlane, 2022). According to Li and Zhang (2023), effec.ve teaching staff not only deliver content but also cul.vate transforma.ve learning through rigorous evalua.on procedures, well-defined goals, and strong teacher-student connec.ons. Addi.onally, they ac.vely incorporate student feedback and use educa.onal technologies to improve learning outcomes and the efficacy of instruc.on (Brown & Mar.ns, 2021). Since faculty are the main instructors who help students acquire higher-order thinking, problem-solving, and reflec.ve judgment, the caliber of the faculty at public ins.tu.ons has a significant impact on how students develop intellectually. Students are challenged to examine, synthesize, and evaluate knowledge in intellectually challenging environments created by faculty professionals who possess great topic mastery and excellent instruc.onal prac.ces. On the other hand, students' chances of moving beyond surface learning to in-depth, cri.cal inquiry may be restricted by insufficient qualifica.ons, an.quated teaching strategies, or low interest. To Ahmad and Parween (2021), improving the caliber of faculty personnel is not only a ques.on of ins.tu.onal performance but also a strategic necessity for na.onal development in sepngs such as Nigerian public universi.es, where intellectual development is crucial for genera.ng graduates who are globally compe..ve. The intellectual development of university students, especially in the development of cri.cal thinking, has been con.nuously associated with the caliber of the faculty. Innova.ve pedagogical approaches like problem-based learning, flipped classrooms, and interac.ve teaching greatly improved students' cri.cal thinking, according to Rosa. and Lizzio (2022). This effect was further amplified by instructors' experience in teaching. Similarly, Tong (2024) showed that in a university sta.s.cs course, a well-planned teaching strategy resulted in quan.fiable improvements in students' analy.cal and evalua.ve abili.es. Even in situa.ons where students had restricted screen .me, Okoro and Eze (2022). demonstrated that instructor-facilitated interac.ve learning environments enhanced students' cri.cal thinking skills. The implementa.on of blended and flipped educa.onal methods by qualified teaching staff resulted in significant improvements in higher-order thinking in the majority of assessed research, according to a systema.c review by Bamidele et al. (2024). Furthermore, a mul.-case study by Kolo et al. (2023) found that changes in the aptudes and methods of college faculty regarding the instruc.on of cri.cal thinking had a direct impact on the level of intellectual engagement that students had. When taken as a whole, these studies highlight how important teaching staff members' professional ability, are in suppor.ng university students' intellectual development. Since educa.onal qualifica.ons capture the academic prepara.on, topic understanding, and pedagogical competence required for effec.ve teaching and research, they con.nue to be a crucial metric for evalua.ng the caliber of lecturers in public universi.es. Holding advanced degrees, especially a Ph.D., is a sign of a lecturer's ability to incorporate current disciplinary knowledge into classroom instruc.on in Nigerian universi.es. It also serves as a benchmark for fulfilling the Na.onal Universi.es Commission's (NUC, 2022) minimum academic standards to teach in the university (Okebukola, 2021). Educa.onal qualifica.on is the official acknowledgement of knowledge and proficiency gained via organized instruc.on or training, typically provided by an approved and accredited educa.onal ins.tu.ons. The Na.onal Universi.es Commission. (2022), states that academic degrees, cer.ficates, or professional cer.fica.ons are frequently used to demonstrate the degree of knowledge, abili.es, and competencies that an individual has obtained. In a university sepng, educa.onal qualifica.on refers to the academic creden.als that a student or faculty member holds and that establish their eligibility for specific posi.ons, du.es, or addi.onal educa.on. Academic qualifica.ons are officially recognized creden.als such as be cer.ficates, diplomas, or degrees that indicate the achievement of specific academic requirements. These creden.als are granted by accredited ins.tu.ons upon successful comple.on of structured higher educa.on programs (Yakubu, 2024) Social Sciences and Educa.on Research Review, Volume 12, Issue 2 – 2025 487 Since higher qualifica.ons are associated with beGer academic performance, cri.cal thinking, and problemsolving abili.es across universi.es and colleges of educa.on, recent empirical evidence from Yakubu (2024), and Adeyemi and Adewale (2023), ins.tu.ons consistently demonstrates that lecturers' academic qualifica.ons greatly enhance students' intellectual development. The academic qualifica.ons and associated experience of lecturers have a significant and posi.ve impact on students' academic performance and related intellectual outcomes, according to empirical studies conducted by Muhammad and Oguejiofor, (2025), Kolo et al., (2023) and Apampa et al. (2025) across Nigerian ter.ary ins.tu.ons in the fields of business educa.on, computer science, and chemistry. Higher degrees, according to academics, improve lecturers' capacity to use a variety of teaching techniques that encourage students to think cri.cally, solve problems, and exercise reflec.ve judgment (Adegbesan, 2020). Furthermore, research demonstrates that instructors with doctoral and postgraduate degrees have a posi.ve impact on students' intellectual growth by promo.ng independent study, deeper engagement with the material, and the modelling of scholarly behaviours (Muhammad & Oguejiofor, 2025; Kolo et al. 2023). Given its significant impact on teaching quality and student learning outcomes, university teaching experience is frequently cited in higher educa.on studies as a crucial metric for evalua.ng lecturers' caliber. A lecturer's university classroom experience gives them the pedagogical repertoire, topic knowledge, and flexible approaches they need to address the various intellectual demands of their students (Darling-Hammond et al. 2020). According to studies, instructors with more years of experience tend to support deeper learning, create more challenging coursework, and employ a variety of assessment techniques that encourage cri.cal thinking and problem-solving skills (Ogunyinka & Adedoyin, 2021). Addi.onally, a lecturer with a lot of teaching experience is beGer able to mentor students, direct independent study, and set an example of reflec.ve disciplinary thinking, skills that are closely related to students' intellectual growth (Kpolovie & Awusaku, 2022). The experience gained from years of teaching becomes a vital asset in improving intellectual development in Nigerian public universi.es, where instructors frequently struggle with huge class sizes, diverse student prepara.on, and insufficient instruc.onal resources. As a result, teaching experience serves as both a gauge of lecturer quality and a crucial indicator of how well ins.tu.ons are able to fulfill their mission of turning out graduates with sophis.cated analy.cal abili.es and sound judgment. Methodology Research Design In order to inves.gate the calibre of faculty and connec.ons between specific educa.onal characteris.cs and the intellectual development of students in Nigerian public universi.es, this study used a quan.ta.ve, correla.onal survey design. Since it allows for the measurement of naturally exis.ng variables and the iden.fica.on of the direc.on and intensity of connec.ons without requiring the research environment to be altered, this approach was selected. Popula.on of the Study All undergraduate and faculty at 135 Nigerian public universi.es (69 Federal and 66 State) as at March, 2025 made up the popula.on. Six public universi.es, three from each of the 69 federal and 66 state universi.es were chosen for the study's manageability in order to guarantee ins.tu.onal variety. Sample and Sampling Technique One thousand, two hundred respondents were sampled for the study through mul.-stage sampling procedure. All the 135 public universi.es were first of all stra.fied according to ownership i.e. federal and state government owned. Thereaeer, purposive sampling techniques was adopted to select three general universi.es each from the federal and state-owned. Aeer which, dispropor.onal sampling technique was used to select 150 undergraduates and 50 faculty as respondents randomly sampled from each of the six selected ins.tu.ons irrespec.ve of the total number of their faculty and undergraduate. Thus, the total number of respondents for the study comprised 900 undergraduate (150 from each of the selected universi.es) and 300 faulty (50 from each of the selected universi.es). Krejcie and Morgan's (1970) sample size formula was used to calculate this, guaranteeing adequate sta.s.cal power for regression and correla.on analyses. Research Instruments Data was gathered using Educatory Factors Assessment Ques.onnaire (EFAQ) and Intellectual Development Scale (IDS) designed by the researcher: The EFAQ was designed to assess the caliber of teaching personnel by employing indicators such as years of university teaching experience, and educa.onal qualifica.ons of faculty. Cri.cal thinking, analy.cal reasoning, originality, research abili.es, and academic involvement were among the Social Sciences and Educa.on Research Review, Volume 12, Issue 2 – 2025 488 markers used by the Intellectual Development Scale (IDS) to measure the dependent variable. Contextualized for the Nigerian university context, the items were modified from the Watson–Glaser Cri.cal Thinking Appraisal and other validated scales. Validity and Reliability of Instruments Three Professors of Educa.onal Management and Measurement & Evalua.on conducted an expert review to determine the content validity. Their observa.ons and sugges.ons are considered in producing the final copies administered. To determine the reliability of the instrument, a pilot test with 75 students and 25 lecturers was carried out on respondents at the University of Ibadan. According to the instruments' Cronbach alpha coefficient, there is good internal consistency and reliability for the following: Calibre of Faculty Staff = 0.87, and Intellectual Development Scale = 0.91. Data Collec.on Procedure Twelve weeks were alloGed for the collec.on of data. To maximize par.cipa.on, research assistants received training on how to administer the instruments both in-person and virtually. All par.cipants gave their informed consent, and confiden.ality was rigorously upheld Method of Data Analysis Percentage and mean of the descrip.ve sta.s.cs were used to provide answer to the calibre of faculty members while Pearson’s product–moment correla.on coefficient was used to establish the rela.onship between calibre of faculty members and students’ Intellectual Development in Nigerian public universi.es Results and Discussion The use of percentage and mean of descrip.ve sta.s.cs were used to proffer solu.on to the calibre of the faculty staff at the public universi.es in Nigeria as contained in Tables 1 and 2 Table 1: Caliber of the Faculty Staff at Public Universi.es in Nigeria Academic Qualifica.ons Percentage Frequency Popula.on Sampled Ph.D Holders 63.3 95 150 Master’s / M.Phil Holders 26.7 40 150 Bachelor’s Degree Holder 10 15 150 Source: Field Survey, 2025 Table 2: Teaching Experience of Faculty in Nigeria Public Universi.es Sta.s.cs Value Mean years of university teaching experience 17.3 years (SD = 7.4; range = 1–35 years) Propor.on with >10 years’ experience 43.3% (n = 65/150) Source: Field Survey, 2025 According to findings in Table 1, the majority of faculty (63.3%) in Nigerian public universi.es have doctorates, followed by master's or M.Phil. holders (26.7%) and bachelor's degree holders (10%). In line with recent empirical findings that higher qualifica.ons are linked to improved academic performance, cri.cal thinking, and problemsolving skills across Nigerian higher educa.on ins.tu.ons, this distribu.on shows a significant presence of highly qualified lecturers (Yakubu, 2024; Adeyemi & Adewale, 2023, and Álvarez-Sández 2023). It has been demonstrated that lecturers' educa.onal backgrounds and related teaching experiences significantly improve students' academic performance and associated intellectual outcomes (Muhammad & Oguejiofor, 2025; Kolo et al., 2023; Apampa et al. 2025). In addi.on to increasing lecturers' proficiency in their field, advanced degrees also help them employ a wider range of instruc.onal strategies that inspire students to solve issues, think cri.cally, and u.lize reflec.ve judgment (Adegbesan, 2020). Furthermore, independent study, deeper engagement with learning materials, and modelling of scholarly behaviours, all of which are directly related to intellectual development, are more likely to be encouraged by lecturers who hold doctoral and postgraduate degrees (Muhammad & Oguejiofor, 2025; Kolo et al. 2023) The ability to par.cipate in high-level intellectual ac.vity is further supported by the teaching experience profile found in Table 2. Public universi.es in Nigeria have access to a large pool of experienced teachers, with a mean of 17.3 years of university teaching experience and 43.3% of lecturers having more than ten years of experience. According to empirical study, lecturers with extensive teaching experience are beGer able to mentor students, Social Sciences and Educa.on Research Review, Volume 12, Issue 2 – 2025 489 adjust their pedagogy, and create engaging courses (Ogunyinka & Adedoyin, 2021; Kpolovie & Awusaku, 2022). Along with having strong academic creden.als, this kind of experience enables teachers to support students' development of higher-order thinking, contextual problem-solving, and reflec.ve judgment—all essen.al components of intellectual development. Pearson’s product–moment correla.on coefficient was computed to establish the rela.onship between calibre of faculty and students’ Intellectual Development in Nigerian public universi.es. Table 3: Calibre of Faculty in Nigerian public universi.es and Students’ Intellectual Development Correla=on Between Calibre of Faculty and Intellectual Development (N = 1,050) Variable 1 2 M SD 1. Calibre of Faculty — 2.98 0.61 2. Intellectual Development .72** — 3.03 0.63 Note. p < .01 (2-tailed). Findings, as displayed in Table 3, showed a sta.s.cally significant, robust, and posi.ve rela.onships. r = .72, p < .001. This suggests that students in Nigerian public universi.es have higher levels of intellectual development when they perceive their instructors to be of higher caliber. These findings are in line with an increasing amount of empirical data that shows a connec.on between students' growth of cri.cal thinking and higher-order cogni.ve skills and the caliber of faculty members, both in terms of their academic creden.als and teaching experience. For instance, Rosa. and Lizzio (2022), discovered that students' cri.cal thinking abili.es were greatly improved by innova.ve pedagogical approaches like problem-based learning, flipped classrooms, and interac.ve teaching. The influence was further reinforced by the instructors' extensive teaching experience. According to Tong (2024), a well-planned teaching strategy in a university sta.s.cs course resulted in quan.fiable gains in students' analy.cal and evalua.ve skills. Li and Zhang (2023), showed that instructor-facilitated interac.ve learning sepngs might significantly enhance students' cri.cal thinking abili.es even in the face of restricted resources, such as screen .me. The current study's conclusion that a top-notch faculty enhances content delivery and fosters the intellectual environment required for deep learning, problem-solving, and reflec.ve judgment among undergraduates in Nigerian public universi.es is supported by these convergent lines of evidence. Conclusion According to this study, some educa.onal characteris.cs, more especially, the educa.onal qualifica.ons and university teaching experience of faculty, are important predictors of students' intellectual development at Nigerian public universi.es. The results show that improved cri.cal thinking, problem-solving, and reflec.ve judgment abili.es among students are highly correlated with higher academic creden.als, especially doctoral and postgraduate degrees. Similarly, faculty with more university teaching experience have access to a wider range of pedagogical techniques, which empowers them to design thought-provoking classrooms that encourage greater par.cipa.on and self-directed learning. These elements work together to provide a crucial part of instructor quality, which has a direct impact on students' academic achievement and intellectual development. According to the data, making strategic investments in faculty development, through ongoing professional development, obtaining advanced degrees, and keeping on board seasoned instructors, can be a potent lever for raising graduates' intellectual development and, consequently, the standard of Nigeria's public universi.es as a whole. Recommenda.ons Consequent upon the findings of this study, it is hereby recommended that, the Na.onal University Commission (NUC) and Nigerian public universi.es should implement measures to improve the academic standards of their faculty. First, in order to guarantee that a higher percentage of lecturers possess doctoral degrees, especially for senior posts, the minimum qualifica.ons needed for academic employment should be reconsidered. This will improve students' comprehension of the material in greater detail and help them develop higher-order thinking and problem-solving abili.es. Universi.es should also implement Con.nuous Professional Development (CPD) programs that are required. Innova.ve pedagogies like problem-based learning, flipped classrooms, and the use of educa.onal technology to ac.vely engage students and promote independent learning should be the main focus of such programs. Universi.es should also put strong plans in place to keep on board seasoned academics. To lessen academic drain, this entails offering compe..ve compensa.on packages, transparent promo.on procedures, and access to research funds. Students are guaranteed to gain from both subject-maGer competence and intellectual growth, promo.ng mentoring when qualified lecturers with substan.al teaching experience are retained. Universi.es Social Sciences and Educa.on Research Review, Volume 12, Issue 2 – 2025 490 might be encouraged to give human capital development first priority as a way to enhance educa.onal outcomes by tying faculty qualifica.ons and teaching experience to performance-based funding. Policy Implica.ons These sugges.ons are in line with Nigeria's current plan for reforming higher educa.on, especially the Federal Ministry of Educa.on's Strategic Educa.on Policy and the Blueprint for the Rapid Revitaliza.on of University Educa.on in Nigeria (2022–2030). By boos.ng the percentage of PhD holders in the university system, raising the minimum qualifica.on requirements directly advances the na.onal objec.ve of enhancing research capacity and teaching quality. Academic staff turnover and skill gaps are structural issues that are addressed by incorpora.ng CPD and reten.on strategies into ins.tu.onal policies. Last but not least, tying funding to faculty performance is a reflec.on of interna.onal best prac.ces and guarantees that the goal of crea.ng graduates prepared for a knowledge-driven economy keeps the caliber of teaching staff at the forefront. References Adegbesan, S. O. (2020). Teacher quality and student learning outcomes in Nigerian universi.es. African Journal of Educa=on and Prac=ce, 6(4), 15–27. Adeyemi, T. O., & Adewale, O. S. (2023). Academic qualifica.ons of university lecturers as correlates of students’ academic achievement in Nigerian public universi.es. Nigerian Journal of Educa=onal Research and Evalua=on, 22(4), 101–115. Ahmad, W., & Parween, S. (2021). What is a conducive learning environment. In Handbook of Research on Cri=cal Issues in Special Educa=on for School Rehabilita=on Prac=ces (Chapter 22). 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