Abstract
Sandwich undergraduates, like other part-time students, navigate through a condensed academic schedule and encounter multifaceted hurdles that influence their approach, commitment, and outcomes within this pivotal experiential learning endeavour. This study highlights the peculiarities and challenges faced by these students in completing the Students' Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) programme, which is designed to bridge the gap between academia and industry during their formative years. The study adopted a case study survey design. The area of the study is the Faculty of Vocational and Technical Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The instrument used for data collection was one-on-one semi-structured interviews and a survey questionnaire. The instrument was face-validated by three experts, and the reliability of the instrument was established using 22 400-level sandwich undergraduates, who were not part of the respondents. Cronbach's Alpha was used to determine the internal consistency, and an overall reliability coefficient of .857 was obtained. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and a t-test. Drawing on the survey questionnaire and interview results, the awareness of sandwich undergraduates regarding the objectives of the SIWES programme indicates a disconnect from expectations, owing to a poor orientation campaign, lack of proper remuneration, and the unrelatedness of workplace activities and SIWES placement duties, among other factors. Also, the students lament not having the time to learn new things. Thus, to ensure the SIWES programme aligns with its intended objectives, recommendations include the pressing necessity for tailored approaches that reorient the focus of the sandwich students towards actively engaging with the programme's opportunities for skill enhancement and practical learning, beyond the fulfilment of graduation prerequisites.
Keywords: Higher Education, Part-Time, Sandwich Undergraduates, SIWES, University
Publication Date: 2025-12-10