Influence of Higher Institution Attended on Estate Management Graduates' Employment in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examines the preference of Estate Surveying and Valuation firms in Ibadan for higher institutions of learning (HIL) attended by graduates of estate management with a view to determining the influence of HIL on real estate graduate's employment prospect in Southwest Nigeria. Structured questionnaire was administered on the 124 estate firms practicing in the study area and 107 useable questionnaires were duly returned. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. The results show the causes of real estate graduates' unemployment in the study area as poor economic policy, estate firms' inability to operate to full capacity, high salary aiming of fresh graduates, dislike for rural practice, high graduates churned out yearly and higher institution attended. Findings also revealed that the estate firms preferred graduates of federal polytechnics to universities and their preference vary among universities. High standard of education, graduate performance, institution reputation, reputable scholars, graduates' skills, and experience were the rationale for the employers ‘preference for higher institutions attended by graduates. The study concludes that quality of higher institutions attended has influence on employment prospect of estate management graduate in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria and recommends that Universities and Polytechnics offering estate management course should endeavor to upgrade their educational standard via curricular review, and provision of adequate teaching and learning facilities.