Employability Skills Acquired and on Inclusive Workforce Integration of Business Education Students in Universities in South-South

Abstract

This study examined employability skills acquired and inclusive workforce integration of Business education students in Universities in South-South, Nigeria. The study adopted three purpose of study and three research questions as guide. The research employed a survey design, gathering data from 1496 Business Education final year students across Universities in South-South. Adopting the Taro Yamen formula, the sample size for the study was 316 Business education final year students of 2024/2025 academic session. A structured questionnaire titled “Assessment of Employability Skills Acquired Through Business Education and Their Influence on Inclusive Workforce Integration Questionnaire” (AESATBEIIWIQ) was used for data collection. The questionnaire was face and content validated by three lecturers form Business education and one from Measurement and evaluation all in Ignatius Ajuru University of Education. Out of the 316 copies distributed, 303 were retrieved which account for 87% of the instrument collected. The questionnaire was structured on a four point rating scale of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and strongly disagree (SD). A reliability index of 0.87 was obtained when the reliability of the instrument was tested using Cronbach Alpha Method. The results were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. Findings reveal that employability skills gained through Business Education significantly enhance graduates’ integration into inclusive workplaces in South-South Nigeria. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made among which includes Public universities should strengthen the practical components of Business Education programmes by partnering with industries to ensure that students acquire employability skills aligned with current labour market demands.