Abstract
This study specifically investigated Business Education students’ evaluation of the benefits and challenges confronting Student Industrial Works Experience Scheme (SIWES) in Edo and Delta States. Two research questions were raised to guide the study and were answered descriptively. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. The population of the study comprised 941 Business Education students and the proportionate stratified random sampling technique was adopted in selecting a sample size of 188 Business Education students for the study. The instrument used was the structured questionnaire and it was validated by experts in the field. The test re-test method of reliability was used in ascertaining the reliability of the instrument and it yielded a co-efficient of 0.87. The mean and standard deviation were used in analyzing the data collated and some of the findings include: SIWES has great benefit especially in equipping Business education students with skills and that funding is a major challenge confronting SIWES. One of the major recommendations advanced in this paper was that there should be more funding of the scheme by the government in order for it to be more effective.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Business Education is a part of technical and vocational education which is studied in secondary and tertiary institutions in the country. That is, universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. According to Osuala (2004), Business Education is divided into two parts: office education, which is vocational in nature for office careers and general business education which is a programmed that provides information and competences needed for managing businesses. The primary objective of Business Education is to foster the acquisition of the necessary business competencies needed to effectively function in the world of work, either as an employee or an employer of labour. The need for ensuring that the theoretical knowledge acquired by students is matched with their practical knowledge gave room to the establishment of Student Industrial Works Experience Scheme (SIWES).SIWESÂ is one of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) programmed and it was introduced in 1974 due to the inability of engineering and technology students in Nigeria universities and polytechnics to meet the practical aspects of their training. That is, the needs to enable students match their theoretical school knowledge with the practical aspect of their training in industry. According to Ekpenyong (2011), one of the principles underlying any industrial work experience scheme for students in institutions of learning is the desire to marry the practical with the theoretical learning which characterizes conventional classroom situations with a view to striking a balance between theory and practice. The author stressed further that it was in realization of this that the ITF when it was established, set out to study the extent to which the theoretical knowledge that students in engineering technology and other allied fields in Nigerian institutions offering technology based courses related to the kind of work experience expected of them by employers.
