PREDICTORS OF EMPLOYABILITY AMONG ENGINEERING STUDENTS IN NIGERIA POLYTECHNICS

Oguche Innocent Ojonugwa

doi:10.5281/zenodo.13292686

Oguche Innocent Ojonugwa Faculty of Education Airforce Institute of technology, Kaduna

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13292686

Keywords: Subject understanding, Self-efficacy skills, Polytechnic, Engineering students, Employability

Abstract

Polytechnic is one of the Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) institutions in Nigeria. There is therefore, the need for polytechnic engineering students to acquire employability skills that will make them marketable and be gainfully employed and fit into the 21st century workforce. In the face of increasing unemployment partly due to decreasing employability skills of Nigeria polytechnic engineering students, many graduates of Nigeria polytechnic have a dwindled confidence of gain needed employment after graduation. Employability is seen as a construct interrelating to social factors and the individual skills. This study examines predictors of employability among engineering students in Nigerian Polytechnics. Data were obtained from 580 polytechnic engineering students. Simple random sampling was used to select the 5 polytechnics from the north central geopolitical zone of Nigerian, while cluster sampling was implored to solicit data from the students. The data were analysed statistically using structural equation modelling. The results of the study revealed that Basic job performance skills, self-efficacy and subject understanding had significant effect on employability. Subject understanding having the highest significant effect on employability with the beta (β) loadings of 0.318 making it the most significant predictor of employability followed by basic job performance skills with the beta (β) loadings of 0.298. The last predictor of employability from the study was self-efficacy with the beta (β) loadings of 0.248. Based on the findings, it was suggested that authorities in charge of Nigerian education sector should put in place appropriate policy thrust to enhance delivery of quality education that will facilitate acquisition of skills necessary for employment of polytechnic engineering graduates. Curriculum development in line with the global best practice, including training of academic staffs that could ensure the acquisition of basic job performance skills, subject understanding and self-efficacy of polytechnic engineering students should be put in place. Future research is suggested to focus on employability of students of other disciplines, including the Nigerian university system.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Abiodun S. O. (2010). Analysis of Mismat ch B etween Demand and Supp l y of Skills and University Graduate Unemployment in Nigeria. Unpublished M.Ed Dissertation. Lagos State University.
Alabi, T. (2014). Youths ’ Unemployment And Crime Control : An Analysis Of Nigerian Experience. European Scientific Journal, 10(2), 301–312.
Ali, F. A., Long, Y., Zainol, F. A., and Mansor, M. (2012). Student’s Self-Perceived Impotance of Eemployability skills Needed: A Case Study in University of Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA), Malaysia 2nd International Conference on Management, 1038(June), 1038–1054.
Akanmu, O. (2011). Graduate Employment and Employability Challenges in Nigeria. Retrieved from http://olusfile.blogspot.com/2011/01/putting-nigerian-graduate-to-work.html.
Akinyemi, S., Ofem, I. B., & Ikuenomore, S. O. (2012). Graduate Turnout and Graduate Employment in Nigeria Department of Educational Management. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(14), 257–265.
Arensdorf, J. (2009). The perception of Employability Skill Transfer From Academic Leadership Classes to The Workplace: A Study of The FHSU Leadership Study Certificate Program. Kansas State University Manhattan, Kansas. Retrieved from http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2097/1348/JillArensdorf2009.pdf?sequence=1.
Bakar, A. R., Mohamed, S., and Hamzah, R. (2013). An Assessment of Workplace Skills Acquired by Students of Vocational and Technical Education Institutions. International Education Studies, 6(11), 15–20. doi:10.5539/ies.v6n11p15.
Blom, A., and Saeki, H. (2011). Employability and Skill Set of Newly Graduated Engineers in India.
Central Bank of Nigeria. (2008). Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year ended 31 st December, 2000.
Emeka, E. O. (2011). Youth Unemployment and Implications for Stability of Democracy in Nigeria. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, 13(1), 358–373.
FRN. (2013). National Policy On Education (6th Editio.). Yaba, Lagos: Federal Government Press.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Barry, B. J., and Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate Data Analysis (7ed). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Innocent, E. O. (2014). Unemployment Rate in Nigeria: Agenda for Government. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 3(4), 103–114. doi:10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n4p103.
Kleeman, A. M. Y. P. (2011). Employer Perceptions: An Exploratory Study of Employability Skills Expected of New Graduates in the Hospitality Industry. University of Central Florida.
Guilford Press.
Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling (2nd (ed.).). New York: Guilford.
Lagos State Polytechnic. (2013). 21st convocation ceremony. Retrieved from http://www.laspotech.net/web/guest/about-us.
Lowden, K. (2009). Intelligenc in the flesh. London: Published by Edge Foundation.
Macaulay, D. (2014). Still on Polytechnic teachers strike. The Nations. Retrieved from http://thenationonlineng.net/new/still-polytechnic-teachers-strike.
Nairaland, F. (2005). Give the Polytechnics a Chance. Retrieved from http://www.nairaland.com/295/give-polytechnics-chance-says-unilag.
Network, E. and E. (2014). Polytechnics In Nigeria. Retrieved from http://exced.ucoz.com/index/polytechnics_in_nigeria/0-151.
Odinaka, I. (2013). How Engineering Graduates can deal with Employment Challenge – Especially in Oil and Gas fields.
Reddan, G. (2009). Improving Exercise Science students ’ self-efficacy in making positive career decisions, (1978), 1–7.
Robinson, J. P. (2000). A Fact Sheet: What Are Employability Skills? Alabama Cooperative Extension System, 1(3).
Robinson, J. S. (2006). Graduates’ and Employers’ Perceptions of Entry-Level Employability Skills Needed By Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Graduates University of Missouri-Columbia-Columbia.
Shyamalee, M. M. G. V, Wickramasinghe, W. M. V. S. K., and Dissanayake, S. (2010). Employability Skills Expected from Fresh Civil Engineering Graduates. Recent Technological Advances in Education, 54–59.
Yorke, M., & Knight, P. T. (2004). Embedding employability into the curriculum. Learning and Employability, Series 3, 1–28. doi:10.1108/17561391111106016.
Zaharim, A., Yusoff, Y. M., Mohamed, A., Omar, M. Z., Muhamad, N., and Mustapha, R. (2010). Practical framework of employability skills for engineering graduate in Malaysia. IEEE EDUCON 2010 Conference, 921–927. doi:10.1109/EDUCON.2010.5492478.