Influence of newspaper advertisements on the preferred choice of universities in South West, Nigeria

Abstract

There have been few studies on "the impact of newspaper advertisements on the preferred choice of universities in South West, Nigeria", thereby, making it difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of these media. This study examines the impact of newspaper advertisements on the preferred choice of universities in South West, Nigeria and newspaper advertisements, which could have implications for students' university preference. The content analysis research design was employed in this study. The communication content in the Guardian and Punch newspapers about universities in South West Nigeria (Bowen University, Covenant University, Landmark University, Bells University, and Redeemers University etc) recorded the most newspaper advertisements. Findings further revealed that majority of these advertisements were mainly placed as half-page, full-page, a full page divided into eight slots (1/8), and pages divided into 4 and 12 slots (inches). The findings also revealed that the central themes in these newspaper advertisements were mainly undergraduate and postgraduate admissions exercises. The conclusion is that this analysis of newspaper contents has proven that it is possible for universities in South West Nigeria to track how their advertisements on newspaper medium influence admission exercise.