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APPRAISAL OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STUDENTS’ INDUSTRIAL WORK-EXPERIENCE SCHEME SIWES

APPRAISAL OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STUDENTS’ INDUSTRIAL WORK-EXPERIENCE SCHEME SIWES

The effectiveness of SIWES is appraised in relation to its organization and operation, guidelines and the roles of stakeholders, funding, operational standards and modalities, and the objectives of the scheme. There are key facets and aspects of the SIWES that determine the effectiveness of the scheme (Mafe, 1991 and 1997)

Organisation and Operation of SIWES
The organizational structure (Figure 3) put in place for SIWES is apparently wieldly and cumbersome, involving many stakeholders who are not directly part of the SIWES Tripod. These stakeholders are the Federal Government, the Federal Ministry of Industry, the Industrial Training Fund, the Supervisory Agencies (NUC, NBTE and NCCE), the organized Private Sector (NECA
, NACCIMA and MAN) as well as the organ known as the Chief Executives Forum charged with laying down policies for the scheme. These bodies are far-removed from the locus of training under SIWES which involves the tripartite cooperation of students, institutions and employers.

In spite of the guidelines on SIWES, stipulating the roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders under the scheme, the organizational structure has continued to feature operational dysfunctions, avoidable administrative delays and bottlenecks and unnecessary overheads in the implementation of SIWES. Examples of the negative impact of the organizational structure on the implementation of SIWES are numerous but it suffices to highlight the process of payment of student allowances which has a backlog of about five years. A more effective organization for the implementation of SIWES that focuses on the primary objective of the scheme – acquisition of RPSs by students – is, therefore, called for.

It is proposed that a National Commission for Student Industrial Training or National Board for Cooperative Education be created to oversee the implementation of SIWES in the country. The establishment of a body dedicated solely to the effective implementation of SIWES would underscore the vital potential of the scheme in the formation of competent and productive technical manpower for the nation.

While giving kudos to the Industrial Training Fund for facilitating the establishment of the scheme in 1973 and its management of SIWES up to 1979 and subsequently, from 1985 to date, it is a fact that SIWES is not the primarily mandate of the ITF, which is “promoting and encouraging the acquisition of skills in industry and commerce “ (Decree 47, 1971). It is clear that SIWES is only a secondary or subsidiary mandate of the ITF since the scheme, even though of great importance to technological development of the nation, is domiciled in a Division headed by a Deputy Director at the ITF Headquarters, Jos. It is the opinion in some quarters that saddling the ITF with the management of SIWES nationwide distracts the Fund from focusing fully on its primary mandate and, at the same time, from paying full attention to SIWES.

Based on the fact that SIWES is a training intervention for students of tertiary institutions, it might be considered appropriate to locate the management of the scheme in the respective supervising agencies (i.e. NUC, NBTC and NCCE). However, similar problems observed in relation to SIWES being managed by the ITF as a secondary or subsidiary mandate are likely to surface. In fact, it is because of such problems, arising from the fact that SIWES is not the primary mandate of the supervising agencies, that its management was reverted to ITF in 1984 by the Federal Government.

The establishment of the proposed national commission or national board for SIWES would bring focus to the need for the effective and proper implementation of the scheme. The commission or board would operate as a one-stop shop for all matters concerning SIWES in the country. It would have a mandate similar to that of the supervising agencies (NUC, NBTE and NCCE) and be charged with establishing standards for the operation of SIWES and monitoring the quality of implementation of the scheme in all tertiary institutions.

It is recommended that the commission or board be composed of representatives of bodies having relevance to the successful and effective implementation of SIWES. Thus, the ITF which is the initiator of SIWES and also a foremost training institution would be represented on the commission or board. The supervising agencies (NUC, NBTE and NCCE) would have representations on the commission since SIWES is targeted at students in tertiary institutions. The organized private sector should be represented on the commission or board by a representative each from NACCIMA, NECA and MAN. The Federal Ministries of Educton and Finance should also be represented on the commission or board. More importantly, there should representation from the institutions (one each from the universities, potytechnics and colleges of education) on rotational basis and reflecting the six geographical zones and proprietorship of institutions (i.e. Federal, State or Private).

The commission or board would serve as the governing and policy-making body for SIWES and would not be involved in the day-to-day management, operation and implementation of SIWES. The present staff of the SIWES Division of the ITF and the SIWES units of NUC, NBTE and NCCE could be redeployed to constitute the core staff of the proposed commission or board.


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