ENHANCING TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL ENTREPRENEURIAL TRAINING (TVET) THROUGH SOFT SKILLS AMONG NIGERIAN GRADUATES.

Abstract

Skill acquisition in addition to paper qualification is very important to be self-reliant and globally
employable. Technical Vocational Entrepreneurial Training (TVET) on the other hand, produces
graduates with technical skills for employability. The study focused on how to revitalize TVET
graduates through soft skills in addition to technical skills for global employability. The research
hypothesis stated that TVET graduates are not adequately equipped with soft skills in addition to
technical skills. Data for the study were sourced from the primary source through a structured
questionnaire designed to test the research hypothesis. The research population is the 2021/2022
Higher National Diploma graduates of Osun State College of Technology Esa-oke. The Higher
National Diploma graduates of TVET programmes were taken as the sample size. The reason for this
decision is that HND graduates will be going to the National Youth Service Corps. And the focus is
the TVET graduates. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics using grouped average mean
The result revealed that 70% of TVET graduates are not adequately equipped with soft skills. The
reason was that the pedagogy of TVET placed more emphasis on the technical aspect of the
curriculum. The study, therefore, recommended that provisions must be made for the acquisition of
soft skills among TVET students since it is an added advantage among their colleagues in the global
market and most especially opportunities come from interpersonal relationships before technical
competency.

Keywords: Soft skills, TVET, Global Employability, Revitalizing.