Socio-Economic Factors Contributing to Female Students’ Dropout in Community Technical Colleges in Thyolo and Phalombe Districts: A Case of Milonga and Naminjiwa Technical Colleges

Most students in community technical colleges dropout before completion of their training course, particularly female students, which is counterproductive with regard to women empowerment. This paper therefore, reports on a study that was conducted at Milonga and Naminjiwa community technical colleges in Thyolo and Phalombe districts respectively. Thus, the study sought to establish probable socio-economic factors that influence dropout of female students from the two colleges, with a view of finding solutions to the problem. The two colleges were earmarked for the study because of their proximity to tea estates where manpower is the main source of labour for the tea industry. In addition, people in the two districts have similar cultural beliefs and economic status. Population of the study covered both female and male students including principals and instructors of the two technical colleges. In addition, identified parents of female students who dropped out of school were also part of the study. Thus, the study was conducted through qualitative research method so as to have an in-depth understanding of people views. Data was collected with reference to objectives of the study and then thematically analyzed. The study revealed several socio-economic factors that contribute to dropout of female students from the two colleges such as: cost of training and poverty, domestic chores and parents’ characteristics, cultural factors, early marriages and gender difference including training environment. However, the relationship among students and instructors showed that it had no effect on dropout as it was cordial and amicable. Recommendations to policy makers and other stakeholders were proposed as follows: Government and Ministry of Labour Skills and Innovation should have a national policy to provide bursaries and loans to needy students. The government should construct hostels at the two colleges to have conducive training environment. Ministry of Labour Skills and Innovation should organize awareness campaign programmes to sensitize the community surrounding the two colleges on the importance of TVET. Ministry of Labour Skills and Innovation should recruit more female instructors to act as role models to other female students.

Skill Acquisition

The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which skill acquisition would influence economic development in Nigeria. The descriptive research design of the survey type was adopted in the study. The population of this study comprised all the students of government technical colleges in Southwest Nigeria. The reliability of the instrument was estimated using Chronbach's Alpha reliability method. The data collected for this study was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The result of the study revealed that skill acquisition program has a positive and significant effect on the ability of students of technical colleges in Southwest Nigeria to be self-reliant at graduation; skill acquisition program has a positive and significant effect on the ability of students of technical colleges in Southwest Nigeria to produce goods for local consumption. It was also recommended based on the study that the various government parastatals should review, standardize, and expand the curricula of all skill acquisition schemes in Nigeria among others.

Assessment of Public-Private Partnership in Technical Colleges in Nigeria: A Case of Lagos State

This study examined the state of Public-Private Partnerships in technical colleges in Nigeria, using Lagos state as a case study. Four research questions guided the study. It was a cross-sectional descriptive study adopted a mixed method research design. The population of the study comprised of all the 350 academic staff in the five government technical colleges in Lagos state. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample 50 teachers. Questionnaire and semi-structured interview were used to collect data. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics to answer research questions one, two and three while descriptive narratives were used to analyse interview responses. Cronbach alpha technique was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire and a coefficient of 0.69 was obtained.The finding indicated that public-private partnerships existed partially as a strategy for funding technical colleges in Lagos for skills acquisition. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that colleges may set up a partnership committee to liaise with industries; government should do away with making of obnoxious policies that discourage private organisations; and National Board on Technical Education may make business grant cum start-up loan available for the graduates of technical colleges. Keywords: public-private partnership, skills acquisition, technical college, TVET, funding

Factors Preventing Technical Colleges and Universities from Cultivating Foreign Language Talents

This article discusses about the cultivation of foreign language talents, through which it can be appreciated that the emphasis is to be laid on improving their comprehensive qualities. Only in this way can foreign language talents adapt to the needs of the market, integrate into the ranks of technical personnel in the field of engineering, and be warmly welcomed by employers or employing units. Nevertheless, in order to achieve this aim, three factors should be overcome to avoid the hindrance faced by technical colleges and universities from cultivating foreign language talents with comprehensive qualities. This article probes into the three negative factors: first, students are not fluent in their mother tongue; second, foreign language majors lack basic knowledge of science and technology so much so that they are not able to do well in such translation; third, they lack the ability to perform simultaneous interpretation Simultaneous interpreting. In regard to those factors, this article then provides several suggestions as countermeasures to those three negative factors, so as to cultivate talents that can satisfy the needs of the market.

Family-Related Determinants and Implications of Low Female Enrolment in Electrical Trade in Adamawa State

Purpose: This study examined the perceived family-related determinants and implications of the low enrolment of female students in electrical installation and maintenance works in government science technical colleges of Adamawa State. Approach/Methodology/Design: A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 13 Electrical Installation and Maintenance Work Trade (EIMWT) teachers and 129 parents of National Technical Certificate Two (NTCII) EIMWT students (either father or mother) in three Government Science Technical Colleges of Adamawa State. The sample of the study comprised of the entire population, thus no sampling was done. A 20-item questionnaire was developed by the researcher and used for data collection. The questionnaire was validated by three lecturers from the Department of Electrical Technology Education, Modibbo Adama University, Yola, Adamawa State. A reliability coefficient of 0.87 was obtained for the instrument using Cronbach Alpha. Mean was used to answer the research questions while a t-test was used to test the hypotheses. Findings: The findings of the study revealed low contribution from the female gender to family income in households and increased level of dependency of the female gender on the males in Adamawa State as major perceived family-related implications. Practical Implications: The study presents practical implications for concerned authorities to work on dismantling the negative perceptions about female education. The results suggest working closely with several institutions to raise awareness and enlighten parents and family members on the prospects of EIMWT, especially to the female gender. Originality/value: The study concludes that EIMWT is a way of investing in the education of females in view of breaking cycles of poverty and social vices that the females might be lured into.

Integrated Reform of Electronic Technology Courses in Higher Vocational Colleges Based on the OBE Concept

The education model based on outcomes-based education (OBE) emphasizes on taking educational achievements as the guide as well as focusing on student-centered and ability-based concepts. OBE is consistent with the talent output goals of higher vocational and technical education. Using the construction of electronic technology courses in higher vocational and technical colleges as an example, this article takes the course reform as an important carrier to promote ability training and explores the course reform scheme to meet the ability needs of higher vocational talents in the new era based on the concept of OBE in order to provide a useful reference for improving the level of talent training in higher vocational colleges.