IMPROVING SIWES PROGRAMME THROUGH COLLABORATION BETWEEN INSTITUTIONS AND INDUSTRY-BASED SUPERVISORS FOR ENHANCED SKILL ACQUISITION OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION STUDENTS FOR SELF-RELIANCE

Abstract

The study was on improving SIWES programme through collaboration between institutions and industry- based supervisors for enhanced skill acquisition of agricultural education students for self-reliance in Enugu State. Two research questions guided the study. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire containing 29 items. It was used to elicit response from 76 respondents who were 64 students of Agricultural Education from University of Nigeria Nsukka and Enugu State University of Sciences and Technology, and 12 lecturers from the two Universities. The instrument was validated by three experts from Enugu State University of Sciences and Technology and its reliability was determined using Cronbach Alpha method of testing internal consistency of an instrument. A reliability co-efficient of 0.81 was obtained. Mean with standard deviation was used to answer the research questions. After analyzing the data from the respondents, it was found that, SIWES programme will be improved if employers in industries will accept students for training, expose them to areas relevant to their studies, experts delegated to supervise the student amongst others. Based on the findings, some recommendations were made. These include; that student should be paid regular visit and guided properly during industrial training and also that the time for SIWES should be extended to at least two years.