Comparative Relationships Between Monitoring and Evaluation of TEFund Projects on Quality Assurance and Institutional Development among Federal Universities in North-West, Nigeria

Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) interventions are one of the largest public sector investments in Nigeria's tertiary education sector. This study examined the relationship between monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of TETFund projects and quality assurance and institutional development in federal universities in North-West Nigeria. The study used a correlational descriptive survey design. The study obtained 240 respondents from four purposively selected federal universities using stratified random sampling; respondents included administrative officers, directors of academic planning, physical planning engineers, and academic heads of departments. The researcher developed a Monitoring and Evaluation, Quality Assurance, and Institutional Development Survey (MEQAIDS), rated on a four-point scale, and analysed 224 usable responses (93.3%). The study answered the research questions using means and standard deviations, while testing the null hypotheses at the .05 level of significance using Pearson product-moment correlation. The overall rating for M&E was moderately good (M = 2.80), with joint monitoring prior to fund release having the highest rating and digital project tracking and post-occupancy evaluation having the lowest ratings. M&E was also positively and significantly correlated with quality assurance (r = .682, p < .001) and institutional development (r = .714, p < .001), accounting for 47% and 51% of the variance in the two, respectively. The study recommends a digital system for tracking milestones, conducting post-occupancy evaluation after project commissioning, providing structured corrective feedback after site assessments, and verifying construction materials after project commissioning.