Abstract
This study was motivated by the general opinion or statements from the public and specifically from professional bodies and industries in the country suggesting that tertiary curricula currently being implemented by academic institutions in Nigeria do not provide what is needed by the industry or labour employer. The main objective of the study is to identify skill and competency gaps in the training of Higher National Diploma graduates of computer science or information technology in Nigeria and to provide recommendations on how the identified gaps could be address in the training curriculum. A three-round Delphi questionnaire where the respondents were asked to rate the items on the scale of their importance was used for the study. The results suggest that, there was significant difference in the views of academic and industry participants in the ranking of the skill and competency attributes based on the scale of preference. The current curriculum also aligned with the needs of the industry in terms of the generic skills. The study among others, recommend two generic skills (21 and 25) considered to be of importance by the industry participants be given serious consideration during review of curriculum to improve the employability of the graduates. Keywords: Basic Skills, Curriculum, Employability, Computer Science DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-16-03 Publication date: June 30 th 2021
Highlights
The term basic skills describe set of characteristics and abilities of an individuals to do something well, normally an outcome of acquisition of training and experience which are very important to the wellbeing of an individual, without which he/she cannot really exist (OECD 2018)
This study is to investigate the views of critical stakeholders on the basic skills and competences requirements of Computer Science (CS) graduates with Higher National Diploma (HND) certificate and determine whether there are perceived difference in the views of academia and the industry and recommend how this gaps if exist can be close through the restructuring of the curriculum of the Polytechnics in the country for CS graduates
The results suggest that, there was significant difference in the views of academic and industry participant in the ranking of the skill and competency attributes based on the scale of preference
Summary
The term basic skills describe set of characteristics and abilities of an individuals to do something well, normally an outcome of acquisition of training and experience which are very important to the wellbeing of an individual, without which he/she cannot really exist (OECD 2018). -√√√√√√√√√√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ x x √ x √ x √ x √ √ √ √ Small Business Start Up. Studies conducted or investigated on the skills and competences by Sarkar et al (2016), conducted a study on employability of science graduates, the results of the study indicate that, generic skills are of greater importance in workplaces after graduation in comparison to the discipline specific knowledge acquired by the graduate. The result indicates that, both groups agreed on top ten (10) of the generic skills as of most important on the scale of preference
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