15. AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS' CHOICE AND PLACEMENT IN AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION IN THE DEPARTMENT OF FINE AND APPLIED ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, BENIN CITY, NIGERIA.

This paper examines Students' choice and their placement into various areas of specialization in their third year (300-level) of study in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Benin, Nigeria and what informs such choice and placement. Oftentimes, most students, before this level may not have any area of specialization in mind but the course advisers are to counsel them regarding their areas of strength and interest. Sometimes, the Department uses its discretion to place some student. The objective of this paper is to carve out certain criteria to be taken into consideration in placing students into their various areas of specialization. Pedagogic and survey research designs were used in which case questions were served to respondents in order to elicit responses and at the end, it was found out that majority of the students preferred study areas that attracts immediate and attractive monetary rewards like Graphics and Painting. This research examines students' attitudinal disposition towards areas of specialization from 2016/2017 to 2020/2021 academic sessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]