| dc.description.abstract | Quality education and training can only be achieved by orienting the academic curriculum in such
a way that its content reflects industry demands. It must also be continuously reviewed after every
cycle to capture the emerging issues in the dynamic economic environment. This study sought to
contribute to knowledge by assessing the extent to which linking university curricula to the needs
of the industry would influence performance of universities in Kenya. Resource based view was
used as the main theory anchoring the study. Cross-Sectional survey was adopted as the research
design. The population of the study consists of sixty five (65) public and private universities
incorporated in Kenya. Out of this, a sample of forty seven (47) universities which had undergone
at least one (1) graduation cycle was taken. Primary and secondary data was collected using
semi-structured questionnaires and review of existing university documents and regulatory bodies
websites respectively. Correlation and regression analyses were used to test hypotheses. ANOVA
was used to determine the differences between group means. Balanced score card was
appropriately used to represent financial and non-financial aspects that constitute performance
indicators. It was established that positive and significant correlations existed between curriculum
orientation and university performance. The findings offer insight to university authorities and
policy makers by reinforcing the role of collaborative strategies when developing and reviewing
academic curricula. University authorities need to enhance collaboration with the industry in
order to substantially exploit the synergies resulting from enhanced symbiotic correlations between
university and the industry. The main limitation of this study is that primary data was collected
from only one respondent per university but common methods bias was mitigated through the use
of additional secondary data to validate primary data. Thus, the limitation did not affect the
credence of the results as presented and discussed.
Key words: Curriculum Orientation, Linkage Strategy, Industry, Performance, University | en_US |
