Re-Integrating Vocational Technical Skill Acquisition into the Educational Curriculum: Capacity Building for Future Professionals

One of the observable problems facing most developing nations today is the non-availability of adequately trained and well-motivated professionals with the capacity to solving problems of national development. Many University graduate professionals complain of unemployment. However, there exist substantial employment opportunities in Africa and other developing nations but the major challenge being that, the skills to match up with imminent challenges are missing. There is, therefore a need to re-integrate vocational technical skill acquisition into the Educational Curriculum for young professionals with proper mental orientation and practical skills for solving societal problems. This paper underlined the necessity of re-integrating vocational technical education (VTE) courses with special targets on sustainability and capacity building aspect of citizenry lives with a view to ascertain the empowerment of students for self employment after graduation. In a bid to achieve this, the current pedagogical approach and curriculum dynamics employed at the Architecture and Civil Engineering Department of Covenant University Ota, Nigeria was evaluated. Specific reference was made in terms of knowledge application from fabrication, construction in timber, reinforced concrete and steel to the main architectural design project. As regards the capacity building development aspect within the architectural and civil engineering education, the application of the respective vocational technical knowledge, obtained through lectures, site works and work shop practices were of major essence in collaborative design projects. It is expected that the indispensability of VTE courses for a successfully-integrated design would bind every element of the design together in different scales. In this way, the sustainability component of the designs in the studio, engineering workshop practice and energy-efficient design would be put to use. The study recommended the investigation and application of all critical elements of VTE-based curriculum development for a sustainable capacity development of emerging future professionals.