Assessing Industry Employer Involvement in Enhancing Quality of Training in Ugandan TVET Colleges

Abstract

This study assessed the role of industry employer involvement in enhancing the quality of Technical and Vocational Education and Training outcomes in public colleges in Uganda. Grounded in Human Capital Theory, the study adopted a mixed methods design and stratified random sampling with a lottery and purposive approaches. A closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect data from 102 trainers, and was analysed using SPSS version 25 to generate both zero-order correlations and regression results. Interviews and focus group discussions facilitated data collection from 13 college managers, 8 industry managers, and 68 trainers respectively. The findings from quantitative data show that industry employers enhanced quality of TVET through curriculum development (mean = 3.8056, SD = 0.98780) and review (mean = 3.7222, SD = 1.06443) to align training with labour market needs. The correlation analysis revealed a significant positive association between industry employer involvement and TVET outcomes (r=0.623; P<0.01) and a significant positive influence on TVET outcomes (Beta=0.623; P<0.01). Qualitative findings analyzed in NVivo 15 revealed five themes of employer participation; industrial attachments, curriculum development and review, partnerships with practitioners and professional bodies, collaborative community-based training projects, and awareness creation. The study concludes that employer involvement in TVET activities substantially enhances quality outcomes in Ugandan TVET colleges. However, involvement remains uneven, with limited employer contributions to infrastructure, scholarships, and governance structures. The study recommends clear policy frameworks and guidelines that encourage the establishment of formal partnership agreements, addressing systemic and policy challenges and improving communication and collaboration between TVET institutions and industry.