Resources for Vocational and Entrepreneurial Skills Development in Powder Metallurgy (PM) Technology

Abstract

In the current difficult economic situation across the globe, it is only conscious effort geared towards practical entrepreneurial skill development in academic institutions that will guarantee wealth creation and poverty alleviation. Hence, the purpose of this study was to identify appropriate resources for vocational training and entrepreneurial skills development in powder metallurgy technology. To achieve the stated objectives, descriptive survey design was adopted. A population of 114 entrepreneurs was used for the study. They are drawn from fifty-six private powder metallurgy and powder production/processing industries in the categories of managers and supervisors. There was no sampling because the entire population for the study was used since is of manageable size. Seven specific purposes and seven research questions guided the study. The only instrument for data collection was the: Resources for Vocational and Entrepreneurial Skills Development Questionnaire (RVESDQ). The RVESDQ was subjected to face validation by three experts.  Cronbach  Alpha Coefficient  method  was  used  to  establish  the  reliability coefficient index for the instructional resources  in clusters according to the components of powder metallurgy technology as follows: theoretical concepts (0.85), powder manufacturing techniques and principles (0.89), powder particle processing (0.77), powder compaction (0.87), heat treatment (0.79), secondary finishing operations (0.86), powder and powder compact characterization (0.89), and the entire instrument (0.85). The seven stated research questions were analyzed using mean, and standard deviation. The findings from the study indicated that 108 items identified as resources for the delivery of powder metallurgy technology in higher vocational technical institutions for entrepreneurship development were all appropriate. Therefore, the study recommends that for effective teaching and learning of powder metallurgy technology in tertiary vocational technical institutions, the identified resources must be provided for lecturers and students; for research and practical teaching purposes. With this, the problem of recessed economy will be partly resolved via application of institutional based approach in provision of vocational training tailed towards entrepreneurship skills development in powder metallurgy technology.