By Udogu, Kingsley Chimezia
The general purpose of the study was to determine the emerging technology skills required by technical college graduates of Motor Vehicle Mechanic’s Work (MVMW) for establishing automobile enterprises in Anambra and Enugu States of Nigeria. The study sought to answer six research questions. Six null hypotheses were also tested at 0.05 level of significance. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study was made up of 120 automobile industry workers and 9 instructors of Motor Vehicle Mechanic’s Work (MVMW) totaling 129 respondents from notable automobile manufacturing and maintenance workshops and NBTE accredited technical colleges in Anambra and Enugu States. There was no sampling for the study since the entire population was used. One hundred and twenty-nine emerging skills item questionnaire structured on a four point rating scale was the instrument used for data collection. The face validation of the instrument was carried out by five experts from notable automobile manufacturing and servicing companies and institutions in Enugu State. A reliability test of the instrument was also conducted and analysed using Cronbach Alpha coefficient method and yielded an overall reliability coefficient of 0.92. Data generated from the use of the questionnaire was analyzed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) using mean and t-test statistics to answer the research questions and hypotheses respectively at 0.05 level of significance. Findings revealed that emerging technologies in modern automobile systems require the skills of technical college graduates of MVMW programme in the maintenance of engine, ignition, fuel, transmission, brake and on-board diagnostic (OBD) systems for establishing automobile enterprises in Anambra and Enugu State of Nigeria. The findings identified the implications of the study with respect to National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), technical college administrators, technical instructors, MVMW graduates, students and artisans. Based on the findings of the study, appropriate recommendations were made, among which is that the identified emerging technology skills should be integrated into the national curriculum of MVMW programme in technical colleges; curriculum for training auto-mechanic instructors should also be reviewed to include modern automobile technologies; graduates of MVMW are to be trained on modern automobile technologies in automobile manufacturing and servicing industries for a minimum of six months after their formal educational programme in technical colleges before certification.