QUALITY ASSURANCE MECHANISMS FOR PROMOTING EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS IN BUSINESS EDUCATION PROGRAMMES IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This paper examined quality assurance mechanisms for promoting employability skills in business education programmes in tertiary institutions in Kwara State, Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses were tested at a 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population for the study comprised 56 business education lecturers in the seven tertiary institutions in Kwara State. The total population was used for the study because of its controllable size; and as a result, there was no sampling. The data for the study were gathered using a structured validated questionnaire tagged Quality Assurance Mechanisms Questionnaire (QAMQ) and Employability Skills Questionnaire (ESQ) which consisted of 50 questionnaire items. Mean scores were used to answer the research questions while Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test the null hypotheses of the study. The findings identified quality assurance mechanisms in terms of the admission process, infrastructural facilities and staff recruitment process as some of the mechanisms for promoting employability skills required of business education programmes in tertiary institutions in Kwara state. It was, therefore, recommended that the school authorities of Kwara State tertiary institutions should improve on quality assurance mechanisms that will enable students to develop required employability skills in the business education programme. This will assist graduates of business education to meet the expectations of employers of labour and reduce the rate of unemployment.