GAPS IN TRAINING AND PRACTICE: OFFICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT (OTM) STUDENTS IN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The existing gap between educational institutions and the workplace has become a source of concern in view of the rising unemployment issue among graduates of tertiary institutions. The main purpose of the study was to ascertain the extent to which office technology and management students are trained in the use of modern office technologies and to find out the extent to which the training acquired by Office Technology and Management students has impacted on their ICT competencies. Two research questions were raised to guide the study.  The descriptive research design was used. Two sets of questionnaires were used in collecting data for the study. Twenty managers of private business organizations and twenty supervisors in government agencies in Kogi State were randomly selected for the study. On the other hand, the entire twenty-two lecturers and One hundred and seven final year students of the Department of Office Technology and Management in the two Polytechnics in Kogi State constituted the population for the study out of which 33 students were purposively sampled. Findings showed that respondents indicated that there was a gap between training acquired in school and the actual practice of the profession in the world of work. More so, the study highlighted that adequate funding, steady power supply and availability of competent educators amongst others were key factors to the achievement of the programme objectives. Finally, it was recommended among others things that lecturers should be offered periodic training and retraining to gain competencies in ICT skills in order to impart it effectively to the students.

(Keywords: gaps, training, Practice, OTM)