Influence of Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) in Enhancing Employable Skills of Business Education Students in Federal Tertiary Institutions in Anambra State

Abstract

This study sought to ascertain the influence of students’ industrial work experience scheme (SIWES) on enhancing employable skills of business education students in Federal Tertiary Institutions in Anambra State. Four research questions were used to guide the study. The study adopted the survey design. A Purposive sampling technique was used to select 150 final year business education students from two federal tertiary institutions in Anambra state, Nigeria: Federal College of Education (Technical) Umunze and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. Data collected was analysed using weighted mean and standard deviation. Findings revealed that majority of business education students understudied benefit from SIWES to a high extent. The employable skills enhanced through SIWES includes; typing skills, time management skills, innovation skills, leadership skills, team work skills among others. Noticeable challenges facing SIWES include finance, students’ placements as a result of non-acceptance of students by some employers into their establishments, inadequate supervision of trainees as well as irregularity in academic calendar of institutions among others. It was recommended that there should be serious monitoring of both supervisors and students, Organizations should always accept students for SIWES and students should be placed in their areas of discipline within the industry for training.