Keywords: ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
There are so many forms of education but focus here is that of formal education which is considered to be a structured system usually from primary to the tertiary institution. It is learning that occur in the classroom offered by trained teachers. Similarly, formal education is one mediated through institutional arrangements such as schools and universities. It is also an educational model to deliver a pre-defined curriculum and offered by institutions. It is a process of training and developing people in knowledge, skills, mind, and character in a structured and certified program (Igi global, 2016).
Formal education is a systematic, organized form of education guided by law in the form of curriculum development and implementation supervise by the body (ies) regulating education (Claudio, 1988). Education at this level are structured in line with a particular curriculum.
In Osun State Polytechnic which is one of the tertiary institutions in Nigeria is regulated by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) with a formal curriculum that all polytechnics must follow. One of such include but not limited to the classification of academic course into departmental (core courses and elective) or departmental or General Studies courses. Each of this subject come with different benefits and objectives but many students often placed departmental courses over general studies courses. Although, many perform well in both courses whereas, many pay less attention to it. Whether they pay attention or not, to what extent these GNS course have impact on students overall performance.
This concept of Academic performance otherwise known as academic achievement can be defined as the degree at a student has achieved his/her educational objective or is performing to the expectation either in the text, examination or both (Covay and Carbonaro, 2010).
Igi global, (2016) describes academic performance as the final grade earned by a student in (a) particular subject(s) the course. The academic performance is defined by students’ reporting of past semester CGPA/GPA and their expected GPA for the current semester. Therefore, academic performance is the overall performance either positive or negative that a student exhibit while in school usually measured by the examination, text, assignment and interview etc.
It is against this background that the study examines the impact of GNS courses on the academic performance of mass communication students.
