Achieving the Effectiveness of the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme for Sustainability of the Nigerian Economy

The increasing unemployment of graduates and its consequence on society make it imperative to examine the potential of the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES), as a work-integrated learning program, towards sustainability. This study adopts the descriptive survey design, with relevant research questions and hypotheses. The population of the study comprised all the 166 final-year students of vocational and technology education (business education, home economics education and technology education) undergraduates in the federal university in Lagos State, Nigeria. The sample size consisted of 132 randomly selected students from this cohort. The findings of this study can be generalized for other public universities in Nigeria on the assumption that they share similar characteristics. The findings showed that the inadequacy of SIWES duration, insufficient funding and poorly matched placements were some of the impediments to its effectiveness. The recommended strategy is an urgent improvement of the SIWES program for the attainment of sustainability in Nigeria.