Abstract:
This study examined the influence of counselling on the academic and social
lives of students in technical and non-technical universities in southern Ghana.
A descriptive research design was employed. The researcher used a
questionnaire for data collection. The reliability coefficient of the
questionnaire, established using the Cronbach’s alpha, yielded a reliability
coefficient of .855. A sample of 380 undergraduate final year students was
selected from four public universities, consisting of two technical and two non technical universities in southern Ghana through purposive, stratified and
simple random sampling procedures. Descriptive and inferential statistics were
used to analyze the research data. The findings of the study revealed significant
difference between technical and non-technical university students on the
influence of counselling on their academic life but not on social life.
Furthermore, the findings of the study revealed significant gender differences
between technical and non-technical university students in the influence of
counselling on academic life but not on social life. However, on the basis of
age and residential status, no significant differences were observed. Arising
from the findings, it was recommended that, educational policy makers and
heads of institutions should invest time and resources in training counsellors
to help students in making informed choices and decisions to solve the
problems they face. Counsellors should be sensitized on the challenges
students face in technical university so as to review the programmes targeted
at helping students adjust smoothly and quickly to their academic and social
life.
