Socio-demographic Variables and Activities/Opportunities for Employability Skills among Undergraduate Students in Southwestern Universities in Nigeria
Babatunde Adeniyi Adeyemi *
Faculty of Education, Institute of Education, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Adeyemi Ayobami Ebo
Department of Arts and Social Science Education, Faculty of Arts and Education, Lead City University, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Ibukun Diadem Adeyemi
Department of Agricultural Economics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The study examined the most prominent activities/opportunities for employability skills of undergraduates in the Southwestern universities in Nigeria. It also investigated the difference in the opinions of male and female undergraduate students concerning activities and opportunities for employability skills in the study areas and finally established the difference in the age bracket of undergraduate students concerning activities and opportunities for employability skills in the study areas. These were with the view of providing information on the relevance of socio-demographic variables on opportunities for employability skills among undergraduate students in Southwestern universities in Nigeria. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. The population was made up of undergraduate students at Southwestern universities in Nigeria. A sample size of five hundred and forty (540) undergraduate students was selected using a multistage sampling procedure. One research question was asked and answered, while two hypotheses were raised and verified. The collected data was analyzed statistically using frequency counts, simple percentages, the Relative Significance Index (RSI), the t-test, and the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results showed that extra-curricular activities, hands-on experiential work, as well as excursions and field trips, with RSI values of 0.95, 0.82, and 0.79, respectively, are the most prominent activities/opportunities for employability skills. Also, there was a significant difference in the opinions of male and female undergraduate students concerning activities and opportunities for employability skills in Southwestern universities in Nigeria (t = 3.993; p 0.05). Finally, there was a significant difference in the age bracket of undergraduate students concerning activities and opportunities for employability skills in the study areas (F = 7.767; p 0.05). The study concluded that socio-demographic variables are strong determinants for activities or opportunities for employability skills among undergraduate students in southwestern Nigeria. It is therefore recommended that more activities/opportunities in relation to employability skills should be made available by government parastatals and non-governmental organizations for undergraduate students.
Keywords: Handedness, Gender, Brainedness, age, Left-Right handedness, activities/opportunities, Genetics of handedness, undergraduate students, Handedness and Cerebral lateralization, employability skills, southwest, Nigeria