Farm Practical Training and Job Aspiration of Undergraduates of Agriculture in Universities in Kwara State Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated whether Farm Practical Training (FPT) is significantly associated with job aspiration of Undergraduate students comparing results of empirical evidence between two Universities in Kwara State, Nigeria. Specifically, students preferred courses of study were identified, and their attitude towards FPT and job aspiration were determined. 120 final year students who recently completed the FPT were selected from the two Universities through multistage sampling. Average age of student was 23.5 years with standard deviation of 2.4. Less than half (40%) preferred agriculture as course of study, while 38% preferred science and 5% medicine. About 32% decided to stay on in agriculture after admission because it is deemed prestigious, 13% due to being last available opportunity to gain admission and 17% because of its entrepreneurial potentials. Many (69.8%) aspired for agriculture/farming related job, while 12% aspired to work in agro-allied industries. While many (45.8%) had favorable attitude towards the FPT, comprising 35.0% UNILORIN and 10.8% KWASU students, more (23.3%) of KWASU students had unfavorable attitude towards the FPT compared to 5% UNILORIN students in this category. There was no significant association between students’ attitude towards FPT and their job aspiration in both institutions (UNILORIN χ2=8.07, p=0.62; KWASU χ2=8.60 p=0.38). Although, most of the students aspired to work in agriculture/agro-allied industry, it could not be concluded from the findings of the studies that FPT did significantly influence their job aspiration.