Industrial attachment and human capital of higher education students: constraints of Ghanaian technical universities
ISSN: 0040-0912
Article publication date: 30 August 2022
Issue publication date: 27 October 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The paucity of empirical evidence on the limitations of the industrial attachment programme of technical universities for enhancing students' human capital in Africa tends to thwart concrete policy options.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used the convergent mixed methods including 594 surveys, two focus groups and in-depth interviews to assess and accentuate the research gap in this study.
Findings
Evidence of constraints linked to the industrial attachment programme for developing students' human capital needs include limited funding, logistics and incentive for supervision, incompatible placement and exploitation and sexual harassment of students. Insufficient duration and intrusion of the industrial attachment programme due to labour unrests, inadequate collaboration and fears of student interns breaching organisations' confidentiality policies were also found to hinder the programme.
Research limitations/implications
The study's dependence on participants' perspectives has the possibility of being characterised by recollection prejudice. The comparatively limited scope and size of the study participants creates concerns of representativeness and generalisability of the study outcome.
Practical implications
The outcome of this study could yield significant practical implications for the planning and operations of the industrial attachment programme of tertiary institutions. It also provides information which could serve as the basis for future research and comprehensive evaluation of the programme's planning and implementation.
Originality/value
The authors have delineated empirical evidence on the constraints of the industrial attachment programme of Ghanaian technical universities to inform policy decisions on the planning, operations, funding and evaluation of the programme in collaboration with industry and government.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are profoundly grateful to all participants of the study for their informed consent and willingness to participate in the study. The authors also express their appreciation of the priceless contributions and suggestions of the anonymous reviewers.
Citation
Nunfam, V.F., Adjei, N.A.K., Adam, H. and Eshun, J.F. (2022), "Industrial attachment and human capital of higher education students: constraints of Ghanaian technical universities", Education + Training, Vol. 64 No. 6, pp. 737-753. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-06-2021-0241
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited