STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIP AFFORDANCES BETWEEN TVET INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRIES THROUGH SCHOOL PRODUCTION UNITS / CONSULTANCY SERVICES
Abstract
The establishment of school production units / consultancy services in TVET institutions has been seen to play not only the role of ensuring that students graduate with relevant skills, knowledge and attitudes but also provides a vital ground for partnership between TVET institutions and industries. This study focused on strengthening the partnership affordances between TVET institutions and industries through school production units / consultancy services. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 158 participants randomly drawn from 5 technical colleges and 2 tertiary institutions within three different major towns in Enugu State. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics namely percentages and mean to answer the research questions while t-test was used in testing the two null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed that the 72.01% of the overall school production units / consultancy services were not functional while only 27.99% were functional in TVET institutions. Furthermore, it was generally accepted that strengthening partnership between TVET institutions and industries involves linking institutions with industries’ master tradesmen, providing opportunities for collaboration with industries and between institutions, creating platform for industries’ idea infusion in TVET. However, lack of organizational vision for productivity, poor perception, lack of basic equipment and manpower, perceived extra labour or burden on staff members were some challenges of school production units / consultancy services. The study recommends the establishment of more school production units / consultancy services to reduce overdependence on government, synergy of theory and practice among others.
