School-Industry Collaboration as an Innovative Tool for Quality Preparation of Business Education Graduates in Tertiary Institutions in Imo State

Abstract

The focus of the study focused on institution and industry collaboration as an innovative tool for quality preparation of business education graduates in tertiary institutions in Imo State. Specifically, the study was designed to determine the areas of collaboration between institution and industry for quality preparation of business education graduates, the constraints faced in institution and industry collaboration for quality preparation of business education graduates and the probable solutions to constraints faced in school and industry collaboration for quality preparation of business education graduates in tertiary institutions in Imo State. Three research questions guided the study, and one hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study consists of the 56 business educators in tertiary institutions in Imo State where business education and office technology and management programme are offered. The entire population was used for the study because manageable size of the population, hence there was no sampling. A three sectioned research questionnaire was used for data collection. The instrument was developed by researchers and validated by experts in the field of business education. The questionnaire was administered on the respondents and data obtained was analyzed using mean and standard deviation for the research questions, while t-test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The results of the analyses revealed the areas of collaboration between institution and industry, the constraints faced in institution and industry collaboration as well as the solutions to constraints faced in school and industry collaboration for quality preparation of business education graduates. Based on the findings, it was recommended that business education students should be given adequate awareness and exposure to industrial activities and experience while in training to acquire practical knowledge needed to cope with the demand of digital economy