Psychology Department

Madonna University is a private Catholic University, the first of its kind in Africa which, by the grace of God, is the first private University to be approved by the Federal Government of Nigeria and started in 1999. By September that same year-1999, Madonna University was equally approved as a Catholic University by the Episcopal Conference of Catholic Bishops of Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province, Nigeria. This approval was later ratified by the Holy See in Rome. Coming at the threshold of the third millennium, Madonna University can be correctly described and regarded as God’s special millennium gift to the church in Nigeria and to our people. Madonna University is owned by the Congregation of Fathers and Brothers of Jesus the Saviour, a clerical religious congregation of Priests and Brothers founded by Very Rev. Fr. Prof. Emmanuel M.P. Edeh CSSP (OFR).

• Inspiration and Spirit of Foundation 

Madonna University was brought into being by the admirable efforts of Very Rev. Fr. Prof. Emmanuel M.P. Edeh CSSP (OFR) of the Holy Ghost Congregation, Nigerian Province, Greatly distressed at the miserable state of education and morals in Nigerian society, especially in schools, Very Rev. Fr. Prof. Emmanuel M.P. Edeh CSSP (OFR) prayed and sought laudable means of doing something about it no matter how small. In this, he sought to rescue some of our wandering teeming youth population from further slide into academic and moral decay.

This desire was to find its concrete realization in the establishment of many primary and secondary schools and three tertiary institutions- first, the OSISATECH Polytechnic, Enugu, OSISATECH College of Education, Enugu and finally, the present Madonna University Okija, Anambra State. In all these institutions, Very Rev. Fr. Prof Edeh sought to combine provision of holistic education at affordable cost to the benefit of all rich and poor with sound moral formation or character building without which any form of education can be turned into a formidable instrument of destruction of the human person.

• Patroness of the University

The Patroness of the University as well as its greatest advocate before God is no one other than Mary the Mother of Jesus the Saviour, the Divine Madonna Herself. It is under her patronage that University hopes to achieve its purpose of promoting Decency in education and Morals in our society for forming the youth after the pattern of her Son, Jesus the Saviour Himself.

• The University Motto

The University Motto is Decency in education and Morals-Dignitas Scientiare el morals. This dictum is not meant to be a mere paper proclamation of good intentions but a guiding philosophy of the entire University life. Its practical utility is built into the University academic, moral, spiritual, socio-economic and political life. It is the responsibility of everyone in the university, both staff and student, to embrace, respect and promote the principle in order to ensure that every aspect of the university life breathes this flavor. All senior and junior functionaries of the university have the duty to see that its practical implications are translated into actions in the daily life of the university.

• In Accord with Catholic Philosophy of Education

This motto is in accord with the Catholic Philosophy of education which sees education as a preparation of one for life. The goal of Madonna University Education is therefore to prepare the students for life, to prepare them to graduate from the University, not only for a professional fruitful life in this world but also for a better life after this life, hence, the equal emphasis on academics and morals. Both academic and morals must go hand-to-hand for man to be fully formed, fully alive in God.

“Education is to the soul what food is to the body” Pal VI “The soul of the illiterate”, says Paul VI “is a stared spirit and if ignorance is a disease which enslaves before it kills, then the soul of the illiterate is not only a stared but also an enslaved spirit. He is subject to all sorts of manipulation by the evil one.” No wonder Plato says that if man lacks education, he is most savage of beast. Godless education breeds immorality and lends the way to hell. And the godless pursue it with all speed. Such education without morality is like a weapon in the hands of a criminal, a bomb in the hands of a suicide bomber. He will inevitably use it to kill himself and others. Again Plato’s wisdom is most apt here. According to him. “Education determines weather man becomes the tamest or wildest of animals on earth. Education acquired and the ability to utilize it for the benefit of humanity makes the difference between man and other animals.”Catholic Education points the way to life; yes, to eternal life with God. And godly embrace it with delight and sound morality. They take that road and work under Gods light into life.

• The Ultimate Goal of Madonna University Education

To give efficiency to its motto and its philosophy of education, Madonna University embraces not only sound education for professional skills and competencies in various fields but also maintains strict discipline. By discipline we mean the training of the mind, body, soul, and spirit to obedience and self control. The students must not only be intellectually and professionally prepared for different tasks and role in the world; they must also be morally equipped to face the world itself with all its tensions, conflicts, challenges and contradictions. They must be prepared well for healthy competitions in the labour market and come out victorious. They must also be adequately prepared to face the attractions of evil in all its forms and come out winners.

• Without Discipline Proper Education and Development Is Not Possible

Without solid morality, development in any field, for example, Science and Technology can be abused and made not only to enslave but also to annihilate man himself. Hence the world needs men women who can combine sound education with morality; men and women of wisdom and character able to say ‘no’ to mediocrity, dishonesty, selfishness and greed. it needs men and woman of wits and guts able to say ‘no’ to cultism, immorality, bribery and corruption for purposes of lucrative gain; educated and morally decent men and women of integrity who will be able to rise above their peers and say ‘no’ to callous abuse of power, to oppression and exploitation of the poor and the weak. Such rise up will translate to say ‘yes’ to truth, dedication, commitment to duty, to patriotisms and justice. The society is safe in the hands of such men and women. Madonna University seeks to produce with the help of God.

The Department of Psychology was established in 2002/2003 academic session. The four years undergraduate programme of the Department is designed to lead to award of Bachelor of Science in Psychology (B.Sc. Hon. PSY). The programme is a comprehensive coverage of courses primarily designed to provide a thorough training in both problems of contemporary Nigeria within the world context.

As a Science, Psychology seeks to discover patterns, using facts, principals and generalizations, in order to increase our knowledge, understanding and control of behaviour in various social and cultural settings groups, institutions and organizations. The philosophy behind the psychology curriculum of Madonna University is therefore to equip students with skills, concept and abilities which can help them to understand, predict, conditions and change human and animal behaviours for the overall social, economic, political and national development of Nigeria.

Aims and Objectives

(i) To instill in Psychology students a sense of enthusiasm for and identity with Psychology as a profession; an appreciation of its application in different contexts, and environments, and to involve students in an intellectually stimulating and satisfying experience of learning and studying.

(ii) To provide students with a broad and balanced foundation of psychological knowledge and practical skills.

(iii) To develop in psychology students the ability to apply their psychological knowledge and skills (such as analysis of behavioural etiology, patterns, prevalence and epidemiology, using the principles of cognition, learning, motivation, emotion, adjustment, conflicts, attitudes, beliefs, values, intelligence, personality leadership and inter personal skills etc )in proffering solutions to theoretical and practical problems of psychology and society.

(iv) To develop in students, through an education in psychology, a range of transferable skills of value in psychological social organizational, industrial, educational, health and cultural employment environments, by the use of generative and creative methods of social engineering.

(v) To provide students with a knowledge and skills base from which they can proceed to further studies in specialized areas of psychology, (such as health, clinical). IT, organizational, industrial, managerial, artificial intelligence, social, Human Resources Management, political; educational, forensic, environmental psychology. etc) or multi disciplinary areas involving psychology.

(vi) To generate in students an appreciation of the importance of psychology in a developing third World society like Nigeria in relation to industrial, economic, environmental and social-cultural contexts, issues, problems and policies especially as they relate to existential and epistemological values, attitudes and beliefs.

Admission Requirements

UTME

Candidates for admission into the four year degree programme in Psychology of Madonna University should possess a Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) or General Certificate of Education (GCE), NECO or their equivalent with at least five credit passes at not more than two sitting including Mathematics, English Language, Biology and Economics. In addition, candidates must have acceptable scores in UTME.

Direct Entry

Candidates for Direct Entry admission shall possess five Credits in GCE, SSCE, NECO, or their equivalents, in addition to at least two Advanced level passes in the relevant subjects. Holders of OND, HND or Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant discipline will be considered for direct entry admission.

Graduation

To graduate, a student must have

(a) Completed and passed the following minimum number of units at each level

   100 – 32

   200 – 39

   300 – 38

   400 – 34

   Total 143 including all compulsory courses specified by the University/Department.

(b) Completed and met the standards for all required and optional courses

(c) Obtain a minimum GPA of 1.0, and

(d) Met other requirements that may be prescribed by the Department, Faculty and Senate.

Learning Outcomes (Regime of Subject Knowledge)

Psychology programme in Madonna University ensures that students are thoroughly conversant with the following bottom-line aspects of psychology.

(i) Major aspects of psychological terminology, principal, concepts, schools, models, history, theories, nomenclature, jargons, conversations and issues.

(ii) The principles of the psychological basis of behaviour personality and learning process.

(iii) Scientific quantitative and experimental models in psychological studies.

(iv) Principles and theories of abnormal, social, developmental, physiological experimental, personality and deviant psychology.

(v) Theories of Perception, Deception, Cognition, Race and Ethic Group Relations, Human Resources and personnel psychology.

(vi) Psychological principles and dimensions of stress, disability substance abuse, psychotherapy, languages and thought, research in psychology; and statistical methods;

(vii) Psychological aspects of social work, politics, international relations, religious and ethnic group relations, group dynamics, consumer behaviour, work motivation, attitudes, and behaviour, adolescence correctional psychology, juvenile delinquency, cultism and religious experiences. Terrorism and conflict/crises, management, employment creation and entrepreneurship.

(viii) Principles of psychological testing test construction, computer application, artificial intelligence, creativity, imagination and strategic thinking.

(ix) Practical issues in psychology such as psychotherapy, social perception prejudice, stereotypes, medicine union management relation, industrial psychology.

(x) Awareness of the major issues currently at the frontiers of psychological research, and development in the world in general and Nigeria in particular. Awareness of relationship of psychology to other major disciplines in the social science.

(a) Competencies and skills

At B.Sc. (Honours) levels, psychology students of Madonna University are expected on graduation, to develop a wide range of different ability, skills and competencies. These skills must relate to cognitive and theoretical competencies, practical skills and transferable abilities. They include the following:

(i) Psychology related cognitive abilities and skills, such as categorization and classification of behaviour (normal and abnormal)

(ii) Ability to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of essential facts, themes, models, concepts, principle and schools of psychology.

(iii) Ability to apply such knowledge and understanding to the solution of socio-cultural, psychological, quantitative and qualitative problems in relation to familiar and unfamiliar contexts of behaviour.

(iv) Ability to recognize and analyze novel, challenging, creative problems and plan strategies for their solution.

(v) Skills in the evaluation, interpretation and synthesis of psychological information and data.

(vi) Ability to recognize and implement good scientific, statistical, reliable, valid research theories and practical in the discipline.

(vii) Computational and data processing skills and competencies as well as other non-subject specific abilities such as computer literacy, numeracy, problem solving, communication and oratorical skills, interpersonal and networking skills, organizational skills, IT skills, time management skills and life long learning abilities and desire.

(b) Behavioural Attributes

At the B. Sc. honours level, students of psychology Madonna University are expected to exhibit the following behavioural skills, understandings and attributes especially in the field.

(i) Be professionally, ethically and morally honest, upright and affective

(ii) Conduct standard laboratory procedures in psychology and work in the research domain to extract data for the categorization, classification and analysis of behaviour.

(iii) Skills in the monitoring by observation and measurement of psychological and behavioural patterns, events, properties and changes, as well as the systematic and reliable recoding and documentation of same.

(iv) Competence in the planning, design, and execution of psychological investigations, from the problem recognition stage through to the evaluation and appraisal of results and funding, using appropriate techniques, models and procedures.

(v) Ability to interpret data derived from psychological observations and measurements (laboratory experimental field and experiential) in terms of their significance relative to the theory, principles and models underlying them.

(vi) Transferable skills such as communication skills covering both written and oral.

(vii) Problem solving skills relating to quantitative and qualitative information extending to the situations where evacuations have inter-group relations, clinical and industrial organizational (personnel) contexts.

(viii) Organizational and entrepreneurial skills as evidenced by the ability to plan and implement efficient and effective models of working as well as ability to create new jobs and opportunities through vision and needs identification.

(ix) Study skills for continued professional development.

(x) Information retrieval skills relating to primary and secondary information source such as on line computer searches, word processing, information technology skills, spread sheet use data logging, storage, internet communication etc.

Attainment Levels

Accordingly, procedures used in psychology department Madonna University for fixing students attainment levels or for the assessment of students achievements in psychology correspond to the knowledge, abilities and skills that are to be developed through the 4 year degree programme. It is therefore expected that evidence is provided on which the assessment of students achievement (and class of degree awarded) should be based by using the following criteria, among others.

Continuous Assessments, seen and ‘’unseen’’ examination tutorial performances

Laboratory Reports

Problem solving and experiential exercises

Oral presentation, as in seminars and conferences

Planning, conduct and reporting on project works

Essay assignments should be given on regular basis

Literature surveys and evaluation in examination in

Demonstration of skills in relation to conceptual analysis, problem identification and solving numeracy, computer and social skills.

Ability to transfer skills to appropriate practical situations.

Extent to which the knowledge base of students is extensive and extends beyond the work covered in the degree programme.

Job Opportunities

Professionalism in Psychology requires a concentrated postgraduate training in an area of specialty. However, a first degree holder in Psychology has job opportunities in the following are:

1. Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of education as teachers, researchers, and administrators.

2. Clinics, Psychiatric, General and Teaching Hospitals

3. Local, State and Federal Government Establishments.

4. Parastatals.

5. Private-Industrial and Business organization

6. The military and paramilitary outfit-Army, Navy, Air Forces, Police, Prisons and Custom Service.

7. The security and intelligence organizations.

Guidelines for B.Sc Degree Programme in Psychology. 

1. A four year programme of courses shall be provide leading to the degree of bachelor of science to be denoted by the letter B.Sc which may be awarded with honours or as a pass degree.  

2. Instruction in the department shall be by courses and students will be required to take an approved combination of sources in the University as senate on the recommendation of departmental Board may from time to time determine.

3. Courses shall be evaluated in terms of course unit. Credit units are weights assigned to each course as a measure of the work done in that courses. They measure course weighting as well as an indicator of student’s work load. One lecture contract hour per week, or three one hour laboratory field work or practical classes per week throughout a semester.

4. There shall be four levels of courses: numbered 101-162, 221-252, 301-382, 431-492. Course number shall be prefixed by a three character programme/subject code. Determination of the class of degree shall be based on performance at all levels.

5. In addition, the General studies programme is a compulsory requirement that must be satisfied by all students of the University. All students in this department are expected to take and pass the following courses:

i. GST 111 & GST 125 Communication in English

ii. GST 221 History & Philosophy of Science

iii. GST 113 Nigerian peoples & Culture

iv. GST 112 Logic, Philosophy & Human Existence

v. GST 123 Communication in French

vi. GST 142 Communication in German

vii. GST 102 Fundamental Philosophy

viii. GST 211 Fundamental Theology

ix. GST 224 Fundamental Ethics

x. CSC 101 & CSC 102 Introduction to Computer & Application to Computer

xi. GST 125 Introduction to Entrepreneurship Studies I

xii. GST 215 Introduction to Entrepreneurship Studies II

xiii. GST 222 Peace and Conflict Resolution

6a. All courses taught during each semester shall be examined at the end of the semester, and candidate will be credited with the number of course units assigned to the course which they have passed.

b. In addition, the total number of course units taken with the grades obtained in each course shall also be recorded for the purpose of computing the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA).

7. Continuous assessment may be regarded as part of course examination but marks scored through continuous assessment shall not constitute more than 30% of the full marks for the course.

8. The approved period of study for the award of the degree shall not normally be less than eight semesters.

9. No student may normally offer less than 18 course units and more than 24 course units in any semester.

10(a) The weighted grade points of courses taken shall be used for the determination of the class of degree.

b. The cumulative Grade Average system shall be used for the determination of the class of degree.

c. The minimum number of course units for the award of degree shall be 161 units.

d. The degree shall be awarded with honours provided a student obtains a cumulative grade point average that satisfies the minimum requirements for an honours degree.

11. The list of successful candidates for the degree shall be published with the

Following classifications:

a. First class Honours

b. Second Class Honours (Upper Division)

c. Second Class Honours (Lower Division)

d. Third Class Honours, and

e. Pass Degree

12. Transfer students from outside the University/Department shall be expected to have taken and passed all the relevant courses of the department. For all transfers, a candidate shall:

a. Have obtained a CGPA of not less than 0.60

b. Meet the admission requirements applicable to the year of study of the program into which he/she seeks transfer

c. Earn waivers for only those relevant courses passed in his former department

d. No transfers shall, however, be allowed into the first or final year of the programme.

     

Grading System

1. The mark obtained in each course is made up of semester examination of 70%

2. Continuous assessment comprises any of:

i. At least three tests, quizzes or assignments or a combination of same or part thereof.

ii. Assessment in Laboratory/field/clinics or any combination as may be applicable.

Grade Point (GP)

The mark scored in each course (Continuous assessment and end-of semester

Examination score) has an equivalent letter grade of A to F, and each letter grade

has a corresponding numerical value of 5.00 to 0.00 called a Grade Point.

Grade Point Average (GPA)

1. The academic performance of a student in any semester shall be measured with the Grade point Average (GPA), which is the sum of quality points divided by total units for all the courses registered in the semester.

2. Quality point (QP) is the product of the Credit Unit and Grade Point of each course.

Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA):

1. The cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) is the measure of the student’s overall academic performance at any given point in his/her programme.

2. The CGPA is normally computed at the end of each semester as an up-to-date weighted mean of the grade points, where the weights are the course credit units.

3. The Grade Point earned at the end of Semester examinations shall count towards the CGPA.

4. The CGPA is the sum of all Quality Point divided by sum of all credit units for all courses registered/repeated so far in the programme

5. The final CGPA obtained at the end of a student’s academic programme shall determine the class of degree the student shall be awarded.

6. Grade to be used for students who satisfactorily complete the work of a course by the end of the semester are:

Mark% Letter Grade Grade Point

70-100 A 5.00

60-69 B 4.00

50-59 C 3.00

45-49 D 2.00

40-44 E 1.00

0-39 F 0.00

7. The class of the degree of a student who has satisfactorily completed his course of studies shall be determined as follows:

Cumulative Grade Point Average and Remarks

4.50 – 5.00 – First Class

4.49 – 3.50 – Second Class Upper

3.49 – 2.50 – Second Class Lower

2.49 – 1.50 – Third class

1.49 – 1.00 – Pass

0.00 – 0.99 – Fail

Stress Areas

Learning Processes 0

Cognitive Processes 1

Statistical and Methodological Issues 2

Experimental Psychology 3

Abnormal/Clinical Psychology 4

Social/Industrial Psychology 5

Development Psychology 6

Theories and Systems 7

Culture/Environmental Psychology 8

Project 9