THE IMPACT OF COURSES OFFERED ON EMPLOYABILITY IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS, KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The rate of unemployment in Kwara State, Nigeria has become a major concern to all stakeholders in education. This phenomenon can be traced to courses offered in its tertiary institutions. This study investigated the impact of courses offered on employability in tertiary institutions, Kwara State, Nigeria. The research design used was a descriptive survey. Three hundred, that is, 200 lecturers from four tertiary institutions (Al-Hikmah University, Kwara State Polytechnic, The Federal Polytechnic, Offa and University of Ilorin) and 100 employers from both public and private establishments were selected as participants in the study through purposive random sampling technique. An instrument titled: “Courses Offered and Employability Questionnaire†(COEQ) was used to obtain relevant information from the participants. The questionnaire was validated by four experts in Educational Measurement and Evaluation. Test re-test method was used to obtain reliability coefficient value of .81 for the COEQ. Two research questions were raised and one hypothesis was formulated to guide the conduct of the study. The research questions raised were answered using descriptive statistics such as frequency count, percentage and rank ordering while Pearson product-moment correlation statistical method was used to test the research hypothesis formulated at the .05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that a significant relationship existed between courses offered and employability in tertiary institutions, Kwara State. It was recommended, among others that, the government should create more job opportunities in order to absorb graduates from its tertiary institutions. Entrepreneurship skill acquisition for graduates should be emphasized to facilitate self-employment.