Archives Des Sciences Vol 65, No. 7;Jul 2012 392 ISSN 1661-464X An Assessment of Employability Skills among Technical and Vocational Education Students in Nigeria. Ali Idris 1, 2 (Corresponding Author) Department of Technical and Engineering Education 1 University Teknologi Malaysia 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. Department of Science and Technology Education 2 Bayero University Kano, 700241, Gwarzo Road, Kano-Nigeria Tel: +60146463488, E-mail: aliidris.gwale@yahoo.com Muhammad Rashid Rajuddin 1 Department of Technical and Engineering Education 1 University Teknologi Malaysia 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA Tel: 07-5534437, E-mail: p-rashid@utm.my Abstract The research was conducted to investigate the level of importance as well as the competence among the students of technical and vocational education in terms of employability skills in Nigeria. There are 233 final year students that constituted the sample for the study in Kano State. The respondents were picked from mechanical, electronic, electrical installation and automobile departments in technical colleges in the state. The data was collected using questionnaire which was adapted from Employability skills for Australian small and medium sized enterprises. The analysis was done using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. The findings of the study showed that all the respondents perceived the employability skills components as high and rated their competency as low. A significant difference was found among the students in terms of their ages while no significant difference was found between the respondents in the area of competency. The study concludes that there is still an opportunity for technical and vocational institution in Nigeria to focus and redouble efforts towards equipping the students’ employability skills. Quality education and training enhances productivity, therefore, students of technical and vocational education in Nigeria need a better education that will help in accomplish the national goals. Keywords: Employability skills, technical and vocation education. 1. Introduction The challenges and constraints of access to quality education and skills training for the younger generation in 21 st century are increasingly growing over the years. Quality education and training enhances the productivity of the youths and, thus, create better chances to secure decent jobs in the labor market. Most of the youths affected in the present situation in Nigeria include school dropouts, youths from the rural areas, child laborers due to poverty, females that are deprived from attaining education due to social factors, graduates of technical and vocational education who are ill-equipped and many more. Better training