Abstract
This study addresses institutional variables as determinants of employability skills acquisition among undergraduates in Cross River and Akwa Ibom States, Nigeria. Three research hypotheses were posed to guide the study. A descriptive survey research design was employed for the study. The population comprised of final year students in Faculty of Education at the University of Calabar numbered 904 and University of Uyo 939 respectively. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select data and a sample of 108 was drawn from University of Calabar and 112 drawn from the University of Uyo. A self-structured rating scale titled “Students’ Employability Skills Acquisition Scale (SEASAS). Face and content validity of the instrument was done by supervisor and experts, Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient range were .73-.92. Hypotheses were analyzed using t-test (population and independent t-tests) and one-way analysis of variances (ANOVA), hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the study revealed among others: institutional variables on the levels of employability skills after their years in various programmes were not significantly low. Based on the findings, it was however recommended among others that; employability skills studies should be embedded in the university curriculum, university authority should make programmes of study more elaborate and rich in content to equip students with skills. Academic programmes in the universities irrespective of the school-age and terms of conditions should also be given basic priorities.
Highlights
Unemployment is among the highly rated challenges among graduates globally, and as such, one wonders whether the level of skills acquired by graduates from various institutions does not match with the organisational demand for manpower skills
It was revealed that institutional variables on the levels of employability skills after their years in various programmes were not significantly low, the second findings on the influence of programme of studies on students employability skills revealed that part-time programmes post already equipped graduates since they are already on the job situation
The findings posted that regular programme in universities in the study areas posts a high level of employability skills because of the time frame and the priority given to the students under this programme
Summary
Unemployment is among the highly rated challenges among graduates globally, and as such, one wonders whether the level of skills acquired by graduates from various institutions does not match with the organisational demand for manpower skills. Graduates have been described variously as half-baked, ill-equipped, ill-train, ill-discipline, liability, lower standard, of poor quality and unemployable (Francis 2015) as cited in Francis (2015), a graduate is expected to acquire knowledge while in the university to give him an edge in the competitive society. Upon graduation from his programme, it is expected that the students must have gone through a standard procedure of training for the award of the degree certificate. Unemployment of graduates from Nigerian tertiary institutions has become a major national problem. Universities was to remedy the level of unemployment rate in Nigeria by designing University programmes to reflect the organizational demands for skills
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