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EXTANT NEED FOR INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

EXTANT NEED FOR INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

The need for industrial training of Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) students as identified by Schneider exists till today.
Advanced countries, with over 100 years of sustained industrial development and requisite technical and human infrastructure, have been able to adequately implement industrial training for their SET students. Developing countries, which are really just starting their industrial development and having a weak or non-existent technical infrastructure, face problems in adequately implementing industrial training for SET students.
The situation is exacerbated in African countries by the inappropriate and inadequate technical manpower training structures that are prevalent in these countries. This is exemplified in the comments of Professor Kwake, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Science and Technology
, Kumasi, Ghana (Kwake in Mordell and Coales, 1983): “It is true that most universities in Africa were initially inspired by, and developed as carbon copies of universities in Europe; course contents, standards, methods of assessment and other aspects of the educational programme were copied from the model and any departures from the European practice were looked upon as anathema both inside and outside the African country. In the science and technology disciplines and especially in engineering, the result has been devastating. The products have been academically equal to the best in the world but they have not brought any significant progress in endogenous technology ….. Let us face it, the main criticism that has been persistently leveled against technology-based professions is that their products are too theoretical, and in some cases, too specialized”.
These observations are supported by the findings of the study jointly conducted, by the World Bank and the Nigerian Institute for Social and Economic Research (World Bank and NISER, 2000), on the one hand, and the National Needs Assessment Surveys conducted by the National Universities Commission (NUC, 2004), on the other. Both reports highlight the criticisms of Nigerian SET graduates by employers, particularly with respect to their performance on the job. The main criticism is that employers believe that SET graduates bring sufficient theoretical knowledge to the job but that they generally lack hands-on or practical skills that would make them productive.

This situation has led to some employers establishing special training schools where fresh SET graduates acquire the requisite KSAAs before they can be employed. An example of this approach to bridging the gaps in the knowledge and skills repertoire of fresh SET graduates is the Special Intensive Training Programme (SITP) of the Shell Petroleum Develoment Company of Nigeria Limited (Kragha, 2004), which was established in 1998. Participants in the programme undergo a one-year intensive technical skills acquisition through hands-on experience.
Although the SPDC’s approach is commendable since it contributes to the enhancement of availability of technical skills for the economy (particularly for the oil and gas sector), not all employers can adopt this model because of cost implications and likely erosion of their profits. Secondly, only a small number of SET graduates can benefit from such programmes since available places are limited.

Consequently, there is a need to put in place modalities that would ensure that fresh SET graduates are equipped with the requisite KSAAs that would enable them to be productive on the job following graduation. The Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES), properly implemented through the joint efforts of all stakeholders, offers an avenue for achieving this objective.


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