Dissertation
Background of the Research
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Background of the ResearchThe conditions and quality of human life in the coming decades will be decisively determined by scientific advancement, technological innovation, and disruptive technologies (Escandon-Barbosa et al., 2021). As the information and knowledge society has advanced rapidly since the turn of the century, and so has the number of studies that try to predict the future of technology and information. According to (Kivimaa et al., 2021), the Disruptive Innovation theory was developed in 1997 by, which states that a disruptive technology is one that disrupts traditional practises, typically beginning with a small number of users and then rising over time to replace a well-established and prominent practice. The introduction of disruptive technologies in engineering training in higher institutions has played a significant role in their readiness for the industrial growth. Countries, particularly the Asian Tigers, also known as South-East Asia's Newly Industrialized Economies (NIEs), such as Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Singapore, Indonesia, and more (Tassinari et al., 2019). These (NIEs), developed and implemented workable policies and strategies in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), resulting in the growth of a significant highly skilled technical workforce and industrialization (Andersen et al., 2019). Effective engineering education with disruptive technologies requires new pedagogical methods, good time management, and methods and technology that are relevant to the digital lifestyles of common era (CE) Engineering students (Siddhpura et al., 2020). According to (Siddhpura et al., 2020) traditional educational approaches need improvement because students lose interest in and pay less attention during lectures, particularly when the material is presented in a way that makes it difficult to contextualise. This is because students today are accustomed to a variety of interactive and audio-visual stimuli, whereas traditional delivery is monotonous in comparison. So, using disruptive technologies for training engineering has been shown to increase students' attention spans, motivation, knowledge retention, and skills needed by the industry. With the introduction of disruptive technologies such as Information communication technology (ICT), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Computer Numerical Control (CNC), Autonomous Vehicle (AV) and Additive Manufacturing (AM) also called 3D printing etc, in the curriculum development for training of mechanical engineering students has been found to lead a competitive advantage in the skills needed at the industry in the Newly Industrialized Countries (Sahu et al., 2021). As stated by Parker & Grote, (2022) disruptive technologies can be used as a tool to promote learning and accomplish desired results. Learning-by-doing, competency-based learning, leadership, active methods of learning, creativity, and project-based learning are among other current innovations in education. This has attracted a lot of positive attention and also prepared engineering graduates for the skills needed by the engineering industry. In Ghana, the primary objective of TVET education in Technical Universities (TUs) is to provide students, particularly mechanical engineering trainees, with the technical and professional skills that need to be more relevant to the industry. In light of this, in 2016, all ten of Ghana's polytechnics were upgraded to TUs Act, 2016 (922) and launching several programs such as the TVET Voucher Project (GTVP) and the Skills Development Fund (SDF), all to address poverty by equipping mechanical trainees with digital skills that will make them relevant to the industry both within and outside Ghana. The revised ACT 974 stipulates that academic staff at those universities must possess particular skills and knowledge, industrial experience, knowledge of competency-based curriculum development and delivery, Train students to acquire a high level of digital skills and equip the laboratories and workshops with disruptive technologies. Furthermore, the proposed TUs would help to improve the productivity and competitiveness of the Ghanaian workforce by offering opportunities for industry workers to upgrade their skills and learn new ones (Kansake et al., 2019). Also, the industry players would be part of the curriculum development with government interface to bridge the gap between skills training and industry practice (Shneiderman, 2020). Despite the government's commitment to making TVET TUs relevant to national development at all levels, there is a huge digital skilled gap between the automobile engineering industry demand and trained engineering graduates from Technical Universities. According to Pegram et al. (2020) Technical Universities produce about 700-800 mechanical Engineering graduates yearly, which is pursued mostly by Males than Female’s students, but less than 15% of these graduates secured gainful employment after national service as showed in Fig. 1. However, according to Akorli & Timothy, (2021), the Ghanaian labour market report 2020, claims that mechanical engineering graduates lack the necessary digital-age skills due to improper and obsolete Curriculum implementation. Furthermore, according to Dsane-Nsor et al., (2019) the majority of technical universities study their courses theoretically due to a lack of digital-age facilities, demonstrating that they lack proficiency. (Adelabu et al., 2019) also opined that trained mechanical engineers who lack high-level technological and interpersonal skills become vulnerable to digital and automated job skills. In Nigeria, a labour market survey of engineering graduates' performance revealed a lack of basic abilities to execute simple assignments, as noted by employers (Ebekozien et al., 2021). A pilot study conducted by the researcher in some automobile plants and maintenance industries shows that TVET engineering graduates lack competencies in digital skills training. According to the maintenance manager at Toyota Ghana Ltd., the graduates find it difficult to understand most of the digital equipment and tools currently used in the industry. Other automobile manufacturing companies, such as Nissan and Katanka automobile assembly plants and vehicle maintenance centres, also complain that the engineering curriculum is designed to be theoretically oriented for engineering students to acquire the adequate digital skills and techniques required to address the current skill gap in the engineering industries. The mechanical engineering training centres also lack the digital software needed to train students in simulations, design, and production of simple mechanical products. The engineering graduates lack skills in Machine learning for developing algorithms and models that enable computers to learn and make predictions. This data was collected from February to April 2022, as reported by the researcher. Download 2.1 Mb. Share with your friends:
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