Employers perception on skills and competencies of nutrition and dietetics graduates from Nigerian universities

Abstract

Background: Education is a major channel to prepare students to acquire skills and competencies to increase their employability.

Objective: This study was designed to seek employers perception of skills and competencies of nutrition and dietetics graduates from Nigerian universities.

Method: A mixed-method approach was used to engage 65 employers of Nutrition and Dietetics graduates in this cross-sectional study. Data on the category of respondent's organizations, technical and soft skills needed by nutrition graduates, desired skills and competencies of the employers of nutrition graduates, deficit skills and competencies of Nutrition/Dietetics trainees and recommendations on addressing the short comings were elicited from the respondents.

Result: About half of the respondents had over 10 years of working experience in Nutrition, 41.3% were Heads of Nutrition Department,37% were Nutrition Programme Officer/Advisor, and 21.7% were Project Manager/Director. About 60% indicated that graduates of Nutrition and Dietetics are not well trained and require further training prior to employment to address their knowledge and skill deficits. Respondents' ratings on the technical skills of the recently employed Nutrition and Dietetics graduates revealed that 38.6% were totally dissatisfied, 36.4% were not too satisfied and only 9.1% were very satisfied. Respondents' ratings on the soft skills showed that 43.2% were totally dissatisfied, 31.8% were not too satisfied and 9.1% were very satisfied.

Conclusion: This study shows a deficit in the skills and competencies of the Nutrition and Dietetics graduates in Nigeria and urgent steps should be taken to address these gaps to increase employability.