Students’ perception of lecturers’ assessments: A case of University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Assessment approaches employed by lecturers in higher education institutions play a significant role in the quality of teaching and learning. While instructors see the goals of the curriculum as basics for school assessments, learners have their own perception of assessments which shape their future learning activities. This study aimed at examining students’ perception of lecturers’ assessments at the University of Cape Coast. An explanatory sequential design was adopted by first selecting 830 students through a multi-stage sampling procedure and later, randomly sampled 12 students to be interviewed based on the quantitative results. A standardised questionnaire called “Students’ Perception of Assessment Questionnaire” (SPAQ) was adapted and used to gather the survey data. An interview guide was employed to collect the qualitative data. Students were of the view that assessments in their institution are congruent with their learning activities. Further analysis discovered that assessments in the university, as perceived by the students, failed to reflect the activities of the world of work. Conclusions and recommendations were outlined based on the outcome of the study.