Influence of University Internal Quality Assurance Practices on Employability of Graduates of Educational Management in South-West, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between internal quality assurance practices and employability skills of graduates of Educational Management in public Universities in South-West, Nigeria. A descriptive research design of the survey type was adopted. The population comprised 1,036 final-year full-time students in 9 public universities in six states in South-West, Nigeria. The study sampled 354 final-year students using a multistage random sampling technique. 
Two research instruments tagged as Internal Quality Assurance Practices Questionnaire for Students, and Graduates Employability Skills Rating Scale with reliability coefficients of 0.81 and 0.70 respectively were used for data collection. The demographic data and research questions were analysed using a frequency distribution table and percentages. The null hypotheses were tested using correlation and multiple regression at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that there was a significant relationship between internal quality assurance practices and employability skills acquired by Educational Management graduates in public Universities. There was a significant joint contribution of internal quality assurance practices to employability skills acquired by Education Management graduates in public Universities (F4, 349= 8.227; p<.05). Findings also showed a significant relative influence of internal quality assurance practices (curriculum validation and evaluation, and labour market assessments) on employability skills acquired by graduates of Educational Management in public Universities. The study concludes that high levels of internal quality assurance practices contributed significantly to employability skills of graduates of Educational Management. The study recommends among others that two-levels of internal quality practice should be integrated into undergraduate degree programme of Educational Management.