Industrial Training: a Survey on its Effectiveness Among Undergraduates from the Faculty of the Islamic Studies

Industrial Training or (IT) is one of the compulsory courses for students at the Faculty of Islamic Studies. The objective of the course is to enhance the quality of graduates by exposing them early to the reality of the working world. After a number of years of its implementation the course needs to be reviewed in order to make room for further improvements as it has proven itself as having a great impact. The research was carried out with the main objective of determining the effectiveness of IT programme among students of the Faculty of Islamic Studies (FIS) of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) as well as to understand the principle underlying the concept of IT. For this purpose 110 questionnaires were distributed to third year students of various departments in FIS. The selected group of students comprised of those who have gone through their IT at the end of their fourth semester of studies. The research is further supported by a series of interviews with a number of stake holders and a comprehensive reference work at the library to gather supporting materials on the concept and the philosophical basis of IT. Data collected from the questionnaire survey was analyzed through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, (SPSS). The research findings show that IT has been very positive in terms of re-shaping the attitude of students from FIS. Suggestions made by students involved in the survey were also taken into account to further improve the implementation of IT. The suggestions will definitely help in minimizing future problems related to IT.