Building a Bridge Between Gown and Town Through Infusion of Industrial Experience Into Students’ Final Year Project

Abstract

Education, the imparting and acquiring of knowledge through teaching and learning has many parts; it is
the knowledge or ability gained through training. Education may mean learning or informative experience
gained through learning among others. Education may be formal or methodically structured on one hand,
or informal in nature on the other. Formal education is acquired in stages and it is fashioned after
perceived intelligence quotient expected of developmental stages of mankind usually from the Nursery
School to a degree awarding Educational Institution. At the apex of education is the Students’ Industrial
Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) designed to acquaint students with the industry while still undergoing
academic training with the sole aim of preparing them for industrial challenges of the futurity. Moreover,
every programme at the apex educational institution terminates with student project culminating in a
dissertation. This paper considers the positions of SIWES and the students’ Final Project and proposes an
infusion of the two important components of our educational curriculum with the ultimate aim of turning
out well groomed professionals that are capable of successfully driving our economy through Vision
20:2020.