Assessment of Employability Preparedness among Penultimate Health Education Undergraduate Students in Oyo Metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria

The study assessed employability preparedness among penultimate health education undergraduates (PHEUs) in Oyo Metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional research design was adopted. The population of the study comprised all 300 level health education students at Emmanuel Alayande University of Education (EAUED), Oyo totaling 93. A purposive sampling technique was used to select all 93 PHEUs and formed the sample size. A validated structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was done using test re-test method and Cronbach alpha yielded 0.84. The research questions were answered using mean score. The null hypotheses were tested using Chi-square at 0.05 alpha level. The finding of the study indicate that there was a significant difference in the distribution of responses on the level of competence in employability-related skills (χ2 (36) = 286.67, p < 0.001); on the level of knowledge of health-related job opportunities (χ2 (1) = 226.86, p < 0.001); and in the distribution of challenges affecting employability preparedness (χ2 (3) = 302.01, p < 0.001) among PHEUs in Oyo, Mretropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria. The study concludes that the level of competency in employability-related skills among PHEUs is fair; they had a high level of knowledge of health-related job opportunities and some challenges affect their employability preparedness. It was recommended that training institution should focus on skill-based training among health education undergraduates. There is need to strengthen career guidance initiatives. Also, practical training should be strengthened with goal oriented supervised practicum exercise.