AGWAZIE Bridget PhD1 & EZIECHINE Charity Uche PhD2
1 & 2Department of Vocational and Technical Education (Business Education)
University of Delta, Agbor
Correspondence Email Address: [email protected]
Abstract
This study assessed the employability skills required by business education graduates in Delta State, Nigeria. This study assessed the employability skills required by business education graduates in Delta State, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at an alpha level of 0.05. A population of 200 respondents that comprised of 50 employers and 150 business education graduate all from Ika community in Delta States were used for the study. No sample was employed due to the small size of the population. A self-structured questionnaire with four rating scale was validated and used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach alpha statistics which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.78. Data obtained from the research questions were analyzed with mean and standard deviation and t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings revealed that managerial skills, accounting, marketing, public relation skills among others are the major employability skills required by graduates of business education. Also, generic skills are required for workplace adaptability. The study concluded that these skills are crucial element for employability of graduates in Nigeria. Based on findings, the study recommended among others, that business education lecturers should strive to ensure that students are imparted with more practical skills that will enable them to fit into the world of work with little or no hinges, there by bridging the gap between what is learnt and the reality of the work environment.
Keywords: Business Education, Managerial/Public relation skills, Marketing/ Accounting skills, Business Education Graduates