Continuing Professional Development Practices and Academic Staff Performance in Private Universities in Rwanda

The study titled "Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Practices on Academic Performance in Selected Private Universities in Rwanda" explored the impact of CPD practices on academic staff performance at the University of Tourism and Business Studies (UTB) and East African University Rwanda (EAUR). The research aimed to assess the relationship between CPD practices and academic performance, testing two hypotheses: one suggesting that CPD practices have no significant impact on staff performance and the other proposing a significant impact. Using an explanatory mixed-methods design, the study included 98 participants, including academic staff and administrators, selected through universal sampling. The findings revealed a significant positive correlation (r=0.596, p<0.01) between CPD practices and academic performance, indicating a moderate relationship. The adjusted R-squared value of 0.525 showed that 52.5% of the variability in performance could be attributed to CPD practices. Additionally, the regression model's P-value of 0.000, below the significance level of 0.05, demonstrated that the model has statistically significant predictive capability, suggesting that the observed relationship between CPD practices and academic performance is both reliable and meaningful. Consequently, the null hypothesis was rejected in favour of the alternative hypothesis, confirming that CPD practices significantly influence academic performance. The study recommends that universities develop tailored CPD frameworks to address the specific needs of academic staff, particularly in research, teaching, and career development. It also suggests that academic staff actively engage with these frameworks and that the Ministry of Education encourages annual local and international conferences to enhance networking and collaboration among academic professionals.