Exploiting training needs of undergraduate students

Abstract

Thorough TNA (Training Needs Assessment) conducted by universities or institutions can address the challenges and professional deficiencies occurring at student level. Taking this into consideration, the present study was administered to systematically identify the training needs of final year undergraduate (UG) students of three different colleges of Pantnagar University. The colleges were selected purposively and 65 percent of total number of final year students registered in three colleges was considered as the sample i.e. n=155 for carrying out this study. The training needs were exploited using the structured questionnaires. The importance of training needs was measured by using 3-point Likert scale and prioritized by calculating Weighted Mean Score (WMS) of each item. Profile characteristics of students show that majority of them were from middle age group, residing in rural area and belonging to middle-class families. Most of them (27.09%) also have their source of income through fellowships or giving tuitions etc. With respect to communication characteristics, students had easy access to internet and high exposure towards Information and Communication Technologies sources such as smartphone (100%), laptop (55%), tablet (29.67%) and MAC book (8.38%). The preferred learning style of students was also studied which revealed visual-haptic style of learning (53%) followed by visual- intellectual learning (49%). Most importantly, study revealed that majority (82.58%) had received various trainings via online and offline modes which shows their curiosity and motivation to grasp new knowledge and skills. The most important training areas exploited included Digi-apps for designing and development of content, trading and networking, cyber security, AI tools for career enhancement, entrepreneurial skills, advanced and digital agriculture and many others.