THE SIWES
Student industrial work experience scheme
The student industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) is a skills training programme designed to expose and prepare students of Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Technology, Colleges of agriculture and Colleges of Education for the industrial work situation they are likely to meet after graduation.
The scheme also affords students the opportunity of familiarizing and exposing themselves to the needed experience in handling equipment and machinery that are usually not available in their institutions. Before the establishment of the scheme, there was a growing concern among our industrialists that graduates of our Institutions of higher learning lacked adequate practical background studies preparatory for employments in Industries.
Thus, the employers were of the opinion that the theoretical education going on in higher institutions was not responsive to the needs of the employers of labour. It is against his background that the rationale for initiating and designing the scheme by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) during its formative years – 1973/74 was introduced to acquaint students with the skills of handling employers’ equipment and machinery.
The ITF solely funded the scheme during its formative years. But as the financial involvement became unbearable to the fund, It withdrew from the scheme in 1978. The Federal Government handed over the scheme in 1979 to both the National Universities commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). Later, the Federal Government in November 1984 reverted the management and implementation of the SIWES programme to ITF and it was effectively taken over by the Industrial Training Fund in July 1985 with the funding being solely borne by the Federal government.
1.1 OBJECTIVES
Specifically, the objectives of the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) are to:
(a) Prepare students for the industrial work situation where they are to meet after graduation.
(b) Provide an avenue for students in institutions of higher learning to acquire industrial skills and experience in their course of study, which are restricted to Engineering and Technology including Environmental studies and other courses that may be approved. Courses of NCE (Technical), NCE Agriculture, NCE Business, NCE (Fine and Applied Arts) and NCE (Home Economics) in colleges of Education are also included.
(c) Expose students to work methods and techniques in handling equipment and machinery that may not be available in their institutions.
(d) Provide students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge in real work situation thereby bridging the gap between theory and practical.
(e) Make the transition from school to the world of work easier, and enhance students’ contact for later job placement.
(f) Enlist and strengthen employers, involvement in the entire educational process and prepare students for employment in industry and Commerce.
(g) Ernest placement and strengthen employee involvement in the educational process of preparing student for employment in industries.
(h) Provides students the opportunity to develop attitudes conducive to effective interpersonal relationships.
1.2 IMPORTANCE OF SIWES
(a) It exposes students to more practical work methods and techniques.
(b) It provides students with an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge in real life situations.
(c) It also prepares the students for the labour market after graduation.
(d) It strengthens links between the employers, universities and industrial training fund (ITF).
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