Interest in Hard and Soft Skills of Technical College Graduates in Fabrication and Welding Engineering Craft Trade in Industries in Northeast, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was designed to establish an interest in the hard and soft skills of technical colleges’ graduates in fabrication and welding engineering craft trade in industries of the Northeast, Nigeria. The challenges that created the need to embark on this study were the concern amongst industrialists that graduates of technical college programmes lack the required skills needed for
employment in the industries. A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. A total of 215 respondents comprised of 60 technical teachers, 112 technical colleges’ graduates and 43 industrial supervisors constituted the population for the study. There was no sampling in the study because the population was manageable. The study premised on two specific objectives based on
which two research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The instrument used for data collection was validated on the basis of clarity and appropriateness by three experts’ lectures Fabrication and welding, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola and also fabrication and welding units in industries. Following suggestions made by experts, modifications were made to the questionnaire. The validated instrument yielded a reliability coefficient alpha of 0.82 obtained using Cronbach Alpha. Means and standard deviations were employed to answer the research questions, while one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses
and a post hoc test was used to test where difference exists using Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23 computer software. The results of the study revealed that technical college graduates working in industries have a high interest in hard and soft skills. it was recommended among others that Employees especially technical college graduates in industries
should be highly motivated by giving them good remuneration and incentives to arouse their interest for high performance and productivity on the job. Good relations should encourage industrial supervisors and other workers (technical college graduates) in order to be more active on the job.