Evaluation of Industrial Training Effectiveness in Improving Self-Development Skills of Urban and Regional Planning Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of industrial training in improving self-development skills, namely knowledge, work, and personal skills of urban and regional planning students. This study is important to help institutions of higher learning specifically and the industry generally understand how well IT can help students improve their self-development skills. A survey method was used in this study. The data were collected by using online questionnaires from 55 urban and regional planning final year students, with a response rate of 100 per cent. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean score, and inferential statistics, namely Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test. This study found that there were significant differences in the students’ performance in knowledge, work, and personal skills from before and after industrial training. The study also found the detailed attributes for each skill improved by students after industrial training, namely 13 attributes for knowledge skills, 14 attributes for work skills, and 23 attributes for personal skills.This study was based on the perception of urban and regional planning students at one of the public universities in Malaysia. Being the first study to investigate the detailed attributes of three categories of self-development skills, improved in urban and regional planning students after industrial training that are specifically related to urban and regional planning, it contributes to the very limited research literature on the topic in the world generally and Malaysia specifically.

Keywords: Industrial training, Effectiveness, Knowledge skills, Personal skills, Self-development skills, Work skills

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-3-02

Publication date: January 31^st 2022