Application of Factor Analysis in Identifying Determinants of Academic Performance among University Students in Nigeria

Academic performance in higher education is shaped by a complex interplay of socio-economic, institutional, psychological, and environmental factors. In Nigeria, despite the critical role of university education, there is a lack of parsimonious, empirically validated frameworks that organize the multitude of potential determinants into coherent underlying dimensions. This study applies exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify the latent determinants of academic performance among university students in Nigeria. Data were collected from 1,200 undergraduate students across six geopolitical zones using a structured questionnaire. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure (0.861) and Bartlett’s test of sphericity (p < 0.001) confirmed the suitability of the data for factor analysis. Principal component extraction with Varimax rotation yielded four factors with eigenvalues >1, explaining 79.0% of the total variance: Academic Engagement (30.42%), Socio-Economic Background (20.08%), Learning Environment (15.67%), and Institutional Support (12.83%). These findings provide a robust empirical structure for understanding student performance and offer actionable insights for policy, resource allocation, and student support services in Nigerian universities.