University Management Practice: A Restorative Approach to the Dwindling Quality of University Education in Developing Countries

Abstract The study investigates how university management practices could be applied as a novel and restorative strategy to improve the declining quality of university education in developing countries. A survey questionnaire was employed as a research tool in February-December 2022, and participants (n = 505) were selected from the total population, which comprised both management, administrative, and academic/non-academic staff of the selected universities from among the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria, using a simple random technique. The study applied Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient and Kruskal-Wallis tests for statistical hypothesis testing. Based on Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient results, hypothesis H1 was rejected, and a favorable, moderate, and statistically significant relationship between students’ academic performance and university management practice has been confirmed. At the same time, hypothesis H2 was confirmed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and there is no statistically significant difference between students’ academic performance and the university’s geopolitical location. The study concludes that an efficient democratic management practice positively affects the overall quality output of university education. The study is unique because the principles of the University Education Quality Improvement Model (UEQI model) were applied to improve the status quo.