| dc.description.abstract | Education and training plays an important role in economic development through its
dimension of building the capacity of human capital. Through education and training
people acquire a variety of knowledge, skills and attitudes which enable them to engage
in productive economic activities. Despite numerous efforts by the Government of Kenya
aimed at making education accessible and improving the quality of education, there still
exists some challenges faced by tertiary educational institutions such as low student
enrolment ,accompanied with a low enrolment of female students in Science and
Engineering fields of study .This study aimed at finding out factors that influence choice
of fields of study of Diploma students at the Technical University of Kenya and analyse
whether the factors were different for male and female students. The sample size used for
analysis comprised of 260 students randomly selected from three faculties; Applied
Sciences, Engineering and Social Sciences. Descriptive statistics, Multinomial Logistic
Regression and Likert Scale in analyzing the data. The empirical results showed that the
factors varied across the faculties; with the most significant factors in the faculty of
Applied Sciences being K.C.S.E grades (B and above) and family income while in the
Faculty of Engineering, the factors identified were gender ( male) and grades B and
above. This calls for the intervention educational policy makers in collaboration with
relevant stakeholders to formulate policies that will encourage school leavers to enroll for
Science and Engineering courses so as to avert shortage of middle-level skilled labour in
all sectors of the economy to foster economic growth and development. | en_US |
