ASSESSMENT OF COMPETENCIES REQUIRED OF UNIVERSITY BUSINESS EDUCATION GRADUATES FOR EMPLOYABILITY

Abstract

The paper assessed the competencies required of university business education graduates for employability. Two research questions were raised, two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study, and a descriptive survey design was adopted. Four hundred and twenty-four (424) final-year business education students constituted the population. Krejcie and Morgan's sampling size table was used to determine the population size of 205 samples from the total population. A 33-item questionnaire titled "Assessment of Competencies Required of Business Education Graduates for EmployabilityScale" (ACRBEGE) was used for data collection. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined using the Cronbach's alpha method, which yielded an overall reliability coefficient of 0.90. To answer the research questions, the data was analyzed using the mean (X) and standard deviation(SD), and an independent t-test was used to test the hypothesis at a 0.05 level of significance.The study revealed that graduatesof business education required computing and accounting competencies for employability.It was concluded that business education students who are intended to be employed by any government agency or private sector are expected to acquire these competencies for successful employment after graduation. It was recommended, among others, that business education students be encouraged to develop the computing and accounting competencies required for employability.

Keys words: Assessment, Competencies, Business Education, Graduates and Employability