Basic Skills and Managing University Graduates for Job Creation in Cross Rivers State Universities, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated how basic skills can be managed for job creation of university graduates in Rivers State. Two objectives were stated, two research questions guided the study and two hypotheses were also tested. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population was 80,100 university graduates comprising 49,420 male, 30,680 female and 204 Administrative heads from the three Universities in Rivers State. A sample of 420 respondents comprising 232 male and 188 female was drawn using stratified random sampling technique. The instrument used to generate data was a self-designed questionnaire that has a reliability coefficient of 0.82. The data generated were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while z-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that each of the basic skills components such as production skills and agricultural skills can create jobs for university graduates in Rivers State who practice them economically by having them to either become gainfully employed or self-employed. Based on the findings, conclusion was drawn and the following recommendations among others were made:  Government should lay more emphasis on the development and teaching of basic skills as general courses in the Universities. University administrators should monitor and supervise adequately the teaching and learning of basic skills in their various institutions.