Improvement Needs of Electrical and Electronics Technology Education Curriculum for Sustainable Self-Employment of Graduates of Universities in Northern Nigeria

The study determined the improvement needs in Electrical and Electronics Technology Education curriculum for sustainable self-employment of graduates of universities in Northern Nigeria. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. A total of 175 which comprises 25 Lecturers, 76 Industry workers and 74 self-employed graduates were used as the sample of the sudy. The research objectives that guided the study include to determine the improvement needs of renewable energy, and electrical machines, among others for sustainable self-employment of Electrical Electronics Technology Education graduates. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. A structured questionnaire titled Improvement needs of Electrical Electronics Technology Curriculum for Sustainable Self-employment questionnaire (INESS) was used as instrument for data collection; the questionnaire was validated by three experts. The instrument was subjected to pilot test at University of Nigeria Nsukka and a reliability coefficient of 0.76 was obtained, which indicated a good reliability index. Statistical packeage SPSS version 2.9 was used to analysed the research questions, while the rsult of the one way ANOVA was tested at 0.05 level of significance using cronbanch Alpha. The findings of the study showed that the lecturers, industry workers, and self-employed graduates have consensus on the need for curriculum enhancements in areas such as energy conversion and renewable energy, electrical machines, pedagogical skills, and educational administration and planning aspects which are crucial for equipping graduates with the expertise skills needed for self-employment. Furthermore, the findings from the study revealed no significant differences in the mean rating for the improvement needs among the different respondent groups regarding the energy conversion and renewable energy, electrical machines, pedagogical skills, and educational administration and planning aspects of the curriculum for sustainable self-employment of Electrical Elevtronics Technology Education graduates. The study recommended that Electrical Electronics Technology curriculum should incorporated AI skills, Photo-voltaic technology, hydro-panels technology, High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) for increased power density, project-based learning approaches of pedagogical skills, soft skills development, problem solving skills, and a contemporary system to track and assess the efficacy of the educational process, human resources and financial planning expertise, among others to address these curriculum gaps for equipping graduates with the necessary skills for sustainable self-employment, thereby contributing to economic development in Nigeria.