ASSESSMENT ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SIWES TO BUSINESS EDUCATION PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES

Background of the study: The type of a country's educational system and program is often thought to have an impact on its degree of development. This statement is accurate to the degree that a nation's technical goals are often embedded in its educational goals and programs. Therefore, education for development is a real tool for every nation's socio-economic emancipation and economic independence. Social, economic, and industrial growth are now based on the degree of technology advancement and skill gain. The secret to a country's progress and economic survival is on providing enough skill acquisition training via technical vocation education (TVE).

At the entry level, business education may be characterized as a vocational course, a comprehensive curriculum that gives its graduates the information, abilities, and attitudes they need to be successful in whatever business endeavors they may choose to pursue. In other words, business education prepares students for careers in industry, commerce, central or local government rather than only providing them with the information necessary for scientific and technical qualifications (BEC, 2019). A procedure or body of knowledge that is primarily focused on training students for jobs in commercial enterprises—whether as workers, firm owners or employers, or just as independent contractors—can also be referred to as business education. (Anao, 2021).

There are many different academic fields available in primary, secondary, and postsecondary levels of education, including business education. The three tiers of postsecondary institutions in Nigeria that provide business education are universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education. The objective of these schools is to prepare secondary education graduates and develop them into middle- and high-level labor for a variety of economic sectors. According to the pre-vocational curriculum volume 2 (Fed. Min. of Education, 2015), the general goals of business education are as follows:

In order to: a. get a foundational understanding of business studies; b. build fundamental office skills; c. get ready for future business studies training; and d. provide orientation and fundamental life skills for individuals who are unable to finish junior secondary school.

According to Dambo (2021), business education programs are created to help students gain information, skills, and competencies that will help them comprehend how businesses and office workers contribute to the country's economic growth.

enhancing the learner's character traits and attitudes to help them fit within the workplace. Give employees the chance to develop their skills so they may become self-sufficient. educating students to become business educators Students who want a foundational education in a specific subject of study might enroll in one of the undergraduate business education programs. Therefore, the main goal of all undergraduate business education programs is to provide students a strong foundation in business combined with extra skills and knowledge to thrive in a specific field of business and workplaces.

Students' aptitude for critical thinking, integrating information from several business disciplines and functions, and applying current theory to actual business problems is being developed. while establishing students' understanding of applied theory and practice across the management disciplines, give the required quantitative analytical, and communication skills Give students the chance to concentrate on a subject of study that is intended to fulfill the demands of a very diversified student population with a broad variety of professional goals and objectives. (Accessed from www.bussinessprogramsi nusa.com) The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) created the Students' Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) in the 1973/1974 academic year in response to the growing concern among our industrialists that graduates of our higher educational institutions lack sufficient practical background knowledge necessary for employment in industry (Information and Guideline for SIWES 2002). ITF works as a cooperative body with industry and commerce so that students in higher education institutions may complete mid-career work experience attachments to industries in various fields that are appropriate with their areas of study (Okorie, 2002 in Asikadi, 2020). Federal Government, Industrial Training Fund (ITF), National University Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), and National Commission for Colleges of Education are the organizations in charge of managing SIWES (NCCE). The aforementioned organizations' duties include, among others, establishing SIWES, accrediting SIWES units at recognized institutions, formulating rules and standards for participating bodies and institutions, and hiring SIWES coordinators and support personnel. The statute that created the SIWES lists among its goals the provision of a means for students in higher education institutions to gain practical experience and skills in the workplace while pursuing an authorized course of study.

expose and prepare pupils for situations they can encounter after graduation in the workplace. Introduce students to handling methods and procedures for tools and machinery that may not be present in the educational facility. Give students the chance to put their knowledge to use in actual work situations to close the gap between theory and practice. Enlist and deepen employers' participation in the whole educational process of preparing students for jobs in industry, and help students become more self-reliant while developing their analytical skills in order to better prepare them for careers in business (Information and Guideline for SIWES, 2002). The purpose of SIWES is to expose and prepare students in the fields of agriculture, engineering, technology, environmental science, medical science, education, technical vocational education (TVE), and pure and applied sciences for the industrial work environment they are likely to encounter after graduation. All students in the aforementioned fields are expected to take part in the programs. SIWES is given credit units, and these units are used to calculate the cumulative point average and gross point average. The SIWES program gives students the chance to work in one or more industrial sectors, allowing them to apply their theoretical knowledge to real-world work situations. This is a realistic approach to assess the applicability of theory to reality. SIWES lasts four months at polytechnics at the end of NDI, four months in colleges of education at the end of NCE II, and six months in universities at the conclusion of 300, 400, or 500 levels, depending on the field, for the relevant categories of students.

It is necessary to periodically evaluate SIWES as a training requirement to see whether it is accomplishing its stated goals.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The key objective of SIWES is to relate theory to practice, thus before a student graduates, he or she should be able to marry theory and practice. Business education is a programme in which a graduate is required to demonstrate through practical and mental skills his or her ability with little employers’ preparation. Thus, his or her training should approximate situations in the world of work especially with the compulsory industrial training requirement of the programme. It is however observed that some business education products perform dismally at employment interviews and are unable to apply themselves to simple office skills, procedures and practices. Could this be as a result of lack of adequate SIWES programme exposure or failure in the impartation of the appropriate skills by institution offering business education programme? In a cross sectional study conducted in some selected industries, universities and research institutes in 1985, Ukaegbu found that graduates apply their intellectual skills and knowledge well enough in industries, he added that students on the other hand are faced with the challenge of handling some electronic gadgets and facilities during their Industrial Training period which the school environment may not have sufficiently exposed them to at the time of undertaking the industrial training. It is on this basis therefore, that this study seeks to assess the SIWES relevance to business education programme objectives.