Application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) on Factors That Affect Students’ Enrollment in TVET Based on TVET Instructors and Students’ Perspectives

Abstract

The world is undergoing a new era of growth known as technological transformation, which enhances economic and social development. The demand for Knowledge workers (K-workers) is increasing because they are the experts who will handle the advanced technologies. One of the channels to produce K-workers is through Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). At present, the number of TVET graduates in Malaysia is not meeting the market demands based on the enrollment in TVET programs after completing their secondary school. Several contributing factors that affect students’ tendency in enrolling vocational education are recognized namely students’ interest, parents’ perception, social perception, employers’ perception, inexperienced TVET instructors, facilities in TVET institutions, current government policy, and vocational education cost. This paper aims to develop two Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) models, in determining the level of importance for these influential factors based on TVET instructors and TVET students’ perceptions. In comparing the differences between two models, a statistical test known as t-test is conducted to validate the hypothesis statements. The findings reveal that parental influence is the most contributed factor in TVET student enrollment. In addition, it is also found that the null hypothesis fails to be rejected since the p-value (0.9998) is greater than 0.05. Hence, it can be concluded that both groups do not have significant difference on their population means.