Academic Excellence as Yardstick for Employability in Nigeria: A Review of the Experiences of Business Education Graduates in Public Tertiary Institutions in Enugu State

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to ascertain if academic excellence is a yardstick for employability in the Nigerian labour market. The study was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses. The population consisted of 173 Business Education graduates from public tertiary institution offering Business Education programme in Enugu State in the 2019/2020 academic session. No sampling was carried out since the population was manageable. The instrument used for data collection was a 17-itemed questionnaire developed by the researcher. The instrument was validated by three experts and the reliability of the instrument was determined using Crombach Alpha which yielded reliability index of 0.88. The instrument was administered by the researcher. 160 out of 173 copies of the questionnaire were well responded to, returned and therefore, used for data analysis representing 93 percent return rate. Mean and standard deviation were used for data analysis and correlation statistics was used to test the null hypotheses. Findings showed that: High and low achievers get jobs at same rate, Doing well on the job does not depend on grade, High achievers are more creative on jobs, Employers seek skills more than grade, Good grade does not guarantee employability, Job creation is targeted at both high and low achievers are some of the factors to prove that academic excellence is not a yardstick for employability in Nigeria. The null hypotheses showed that no significant relationship exist in the mean responses of high and low achieving Business Education graduates in public tertiary institutions in Enugu State on the itemized variables. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that Attention should be shifted from academic excellence as yardstick for employability in Nigeria so that students are not pressured into dubious means just to graduate with high grades since findings of the study has shown that the both variables has no direct relationship. Employment opportunities should be massively created for all enough for both high and low academic performers since the findings of the study revealed that those with low academic performance can also have valuable skills capable of keeping them on the job for as long as they intend to.