Developing A Framework To Mitigate The Skill Gap Between Information Technology Department Curriculum Implementation And Industrial Information Technology Skill Requirement: The Case Of Selected Ethiopian Public Universities

Abstract

Higher educational institutions are the factory for producing skilled human resources in all knowledge areas and disciplines over the globe. Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions, particularly public universities in Ethiopia are in charge of creating skilled human power to all disciplines across the country with the standard baseline for minimum skills required in the market for all kind of disciplines. Graduating proficiency are serious and need to be achieved effectively to sustain the development of the country especially Information Technology department graduated human resources with their expected skill in the market and industry. Major aim of this research is thus to design a curriculum framework that helps curriculum implementation to analyze the skills required to bridge the gap between the skills needed by the industries and market of Information Technology graduated students and the actual students’ academic program (Curriculum) at higher educational institutions to cope with the Information Technology graduates to qualify the countries information technology careers. To come across those phenomena, the proposed research uses survey- based research design to explore the gap by investigating the banking and telecom industries’ skills requirements, knowledge needs and the existing curriculum of Information Technology at three selected Ethiopian Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions specifically Jimma University, Wolayta Soda and Wochamo Universities and design a framework that mitigates the skill gaps. The study finding(72.7% of respondents) showed that various challenges, factors that regulated and related to learning-system, learner factors, lecturer factors and technological factors, for Information Technology department graduates skills and industries’ Information Technology skill requirement play a role in Information Technology department graduate skill. Information Technology department graduates’ skill and the hiring companies’ skill requirements have a direct relationship in a working environment. Further studies should be conducted on other computing faculty departments for both graduated and undergraduate and other hiring companies’ skill requirement.