Instructional supervision and students’ grades at completion in private and public universities, Kampala, Uganda

This study investigated the effect of instructional supervision on students’ grades at completion in public and private universities, Kampala Uganda. Using a descriptive correlational and a cross sectional survey design, the objective was set to examine the effect of instructional supervision on students’ grades at completion. .The study targeted university staff and sampled 750 lecturers from two public and two private universities. A researcher constructed questionnaire was employed to collect data on effectiveness of instructional supervision. While secondary data on students’ grades at completion for two years, 2019 and 2022, was obtained from the four universities. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics; frequencies as well as means and standard deviations at a university level. At a bivariate level, student’s two independent samples t-test, one way ANOVA and Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient were used. At multivariate level, multiple linear regression and multivariate analysis of variance and covariates (MANOVA) was used to test the hypothesis. The findings revealed that; instructional supervision was generally weak among the four universities studied (overall mean = 2.41= Weak IS; SD =0 .725); students’ grades at completion were generally fair, with only less than 55% of the students graduating what is considered good grades (first class and second class upper) degrees, while about 45% attained what is considered poor grades (second class lower and pass) degrees; the GLM MANOVA revealed that instructional supervision significantly affects students’ grades at completion (Wilks’ Lambda = 0.967; F= 2.029;Sig. =.019;Partial Eta2 =0 .011). .The researcher recommends that, to improve students’ grades at completion, university managers and administrators should strengthen instructional supervision through involving academic staff, HODs, Deans/ principals and Director academic affairs, in supervision planning, ensuring that lecture monitoring is done by professional and competent staff, regularly and consistently from the beginning to the end and improving feedback provision, ensuring that lecturers are given immediate feedback about their strength and weaknesses and supporting them through simple discussions and dialogue with more experienced lecture observers .