Abstract
BackgroundWith the rise in graduate unemployment and the poor linkage between university education and industry, competency-based training (CBT) is gaining popularity in Ghana’s universities as a way of producing business-oriented and well-grounded graduates for industry who are ready to make use of knowledge acquired in university education to establish businesses that will help reduce unemployment in the country as well as working effectively in the nation’s industry and service sectors. With CBT yet to be introduced in most Ghanaian tertiary institutions, information about academics’ perception and willingness to adopt the methodology is crucial. This study examined the perception and adoption of CBT by academics in Ghana using cross-sectional data collected from 300 faculty members of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, 5-point Likert scale, perception index, and the logit model were the methods of analysis employed.ResultsThe results of the survey showed that the overall perception index was 0.49, indicating that generally faculty members of KNUST agreed and had a positive perception of the potential of CBT in instilling in students employable skills. The logit results also showed that the probability of adoption of CBT is positively influenced by participation in CBT workshops, effective supervision of faculty members by university authorities, availability of teaching aids, and availability of incentives. Conversely, adoption was found to be negatively influenced by teaching load and number of undergraduate students per class.ConclusionsWe conclude that provision of appropriate teaching and learning resources that complement adoption of CBT, incentives, and competency-based education training for academics by university authorities and stakeholders in Ghana’s tertiary education will enhance the adoption of CBT methodologies.
Highlights
With the rise in graduate unemployment and the poor linkage between university education and industry, competency-based training (CBT) is gaining popularity in Ghana’s universities as a way of producing business-oriented and well-grounded graduates for industry who are ready to make use of knowledge acquired in university education to establish businesses that will help reduce unemployment in the country as well as working effectively in the nation’s industry and service sectors
In spite of some features that are peculiar to CBT, many academic fields differ in the design and content of their curricula, delivery, assessment, and the specific employable skills they give to students and prospective employees (Kwok 2005; Yorke 2007)
The implication is that faculty members who have attended CBT workshops before were more likely to adopt the methodology in their teaching activities
Summary
With the rise in graduate unemployment and the poor linkage between university education and industry, competency-based training (CBT) is gaining popularity in Ghana’s universities as a way of producing business-oriented and well-grounded graduates for industry who are ready to make use of knowledge acquired in university education to establish businesses that will help reduce unemployment in the country as well as working effectively in the nation’s industry and service sectors. A key methodology in teaching that emphasizes the development of employable skills is competency-based training (CBT). Training in most Ghanaian universities usually focuses only on the growth and development of theory to the neglect of employable skills. This implies that employable skills that are demanded by the job market are poorly developed and taught in Ghana’s tertiary institutions (NCTVET 2006). Universities have not succeeded in producing skilled and capable personnel due to theory-based curricula, inadequate teaching and learning materials, and inefficient systems of industrial attachment which leads to poor job placement of graduates in the labor market (JICA 2001). Poor employable skills of university graduates force most employers to take would-be employees through longer orientation and probation periods before selecting the best-performing employees (Boateng and Ofori-Sarpong 2002)
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