The extent to which quality gaps in the graduates of Nigerian Universities is related to application of Total Quality Management (TQM) by Universities has been a subject of debate. The employability of graduates from Nigerian Universities has constituted a major concern to both private and public sectors. The controversies of curricula design, teaching, research, learning resources, student support, institutional vision and innovative practices has adversely affected graduate employability and productivity. Researchers have therefore devised various means to improve the quality of education without due considerations to indicators of Total Quality Management (TQM) through academic staff performance. The aim of the study was to examine the impact of Total Quality Management practices on academic staff performance in selected Universities in North-central, Nigeria. The objectives were to: (i) examine the effect of students focus on academic staff productivity; (ii) determine the relationship between continuous improvement and quality of teaching of academic staff; (iii) examine the impact of team work on academic staff research output; (iv) evaluate the impact of leadership commitment on community services; and (v) assess the impact of innovative practices on academic staff efficiency.rnThe study employed survey design. A sample of 390 academic staff and 400 students were selected from population of 8,318 and 200,827 respectively. A total of 370 academic staff and 384 students returned their questionnaires, using multistage sampling technique from ten sampled public and private Universities in North-central, Nigeria. The fourteen Universities were made up of seven federal Universities, four state Universities and three private Universities. Primary data were collected through a validated structured questionnaire with Cronbach Alpha of 0.81. Data were analysed using regression analysis and correlation at 5% level of significance.rnThe findings of the study were that:rn(i) elements of students focus have significant impact on academic staff productivity in North-central Universities. Studentâ€™s needs and expectation, satisfaction and feedback on quality of teaching were positively significant (Î² = 0.285, 0.267, and 0.371 respectively);rn(ii) continuous improvement components have significant relationship with quality of teaching of academic staff in the North-central Universities. Quality of tools, quality of product and process quality were significant except job resources (Î² = 0.358, 0.672, and 0.713 respectively);rn(iii) components of team work have significant impact on academic staff research output in North-central Universities. Employees involvement, engagement, participation were significant except work environment (Î² = 0.229, 0.153, and 0.482 respectively);rn(iv) leadership commitment metrics have significant impact on community services in North-central Universities. Implementation strategies, understanding of TQM, management support were significant except for reward and recognition (Î² = 0.046, 0.187, 0.346, 0.395 and 0.222 respectively); andrn(v) innovative practices have significant influence on academic staff efficiency in North-central Universities. Creativity, product focus and optimization were significant except for process focus (Î² = 0.982, 0.689, and 0.367 respectively).rnThe study concluded that students focus, continuous improvement, leadership commitment, team work and innovative practices have positive effect on academic staff performance in the selected North-central Universities in Nigeria. The study recommended that job resources, work environment, process focus, reward and recognition be enhanced to improve academic staff performance.