Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)

<p>This tracer study was designed to track National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) graduate nurses in their places of work with a view to ascertaining their level of professional competency and to explore employers’ expectation of graduate competencies. The study employed the descriptive su...

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Main Authors: Dorothy Ofoha, Onyeka Iwuchukwu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) 2018-07-01
Series:Open Praxis
Subjects:
Online Access:https://openpraxis.org/articles/448
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author Dorothy Ofoha
Onyeka Iwuchukwu
author_facet Dorothy Ofoha
Onyeka Iwuchukwu
author_sort Dorothy Ofoha
collection DOAJ
description <p>This tracer study was designed to track National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) graduate nurses in their places of work with a view to ascertaining their level of professional competency and to explore employers’ expectation of graduate competencies. The study employed the descriptive survey design. Participants included 222 NOUN <em>alumni</em> who graduated in nursing programme and a corresponding 222 heads/top-level managers of the organizations where the graduate nurses were employed. Multiple instruments were used to collect data including competency test, survey questionnaire, and direct observation. A number of remarkable findings emerged from this study, both expected and unexpected. Majority of sampled graduates appeared to possess high level of professional competency in all three competency dimensions measured. A significant proportion of employers seemed to hold high perception regarding the graduates. In matching the employers’ perception of ODL graduates against actual competencies of NOUN graduate nurses with the use of quadrant analysis, the resulting values showed that a significant proportion of the graduates met and exceeded employer expectation.</p>
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spelling doaj.art-4bd6b858348342c1ab3742a192277fe62023-03-01T21:21:15ZengInternational Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)Open Praxis1369-99972304-070X2018-07-0110326527810.5944/openpraxis.10.3.796414Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)Dorothy Ofoha0Onyeka Iwuchukwu1National Open University of NigeriaNational Open University of Nigeria<p>This tracer study was designed to track National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) graduate nurses in their places of work with a view to ascertaining their level of professional competency and to explore employers’ expectation of graduate competencies. The study employed the descriptive survey design. Participants included 222 NOUN <em>alumni</em> who graduated in nursing programme and a corresponding 222 heads/top-level managers of the organizations where the graduate nurses were employed. Multiple instruments were used to collect data including competency test, survey questionnaire, and direct observation. A number of remarkable findings emerged from this study, both expected and unexpected. Majority of sampled graduates appeared to possess high level of professional competency in all three competency dimensions measured. A significant proportion of employers seemed to hold high perception regarding the graduates. In matching the employers’ perception of ODL graduates against actual competencies of NOUN graduate nurses with the use of quadrant analysis, the resulting values showed that a significant proportion of the graduates met and exceeded employer expectation.</p>https://openpraxis.org/articles/448tracer studynoungraduate nursesprofessional competencyemployer expectation
spellingShingle Dorothy Ofoha
Onyeka Iwuchukwu
Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)
Open Praxis
tracer study
noun
graduate nurses
professional competency
employer expectation
title Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)
title_full Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)
title_fullStr Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)
title_full_unstemmed Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)
title_short Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)
title_sort employers perception and expectations of professional competency of distance learning graduates a tracer study of nursing graduates of the national open university of nigeria noun
topic tracer study
noun
graduate nurses
professional competency
employer expectation
url https://openpraxis.org/articles/448
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