Mercado, G. A. (2013). Achieving employment rate of Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) graduates by the enhancement of curriculum through collaboration with stakeholders (Unpublished master's thesis). Public Management Development Program, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Public Management Development Program Batch 2: Habi Middle Managers Class Thesis (MMC)--Development Academy of the Philippines.

The training center performance is measured by the accomplishment of its target for a given period. Historical records of the center show that the employment rate of graduates for SMAW always falls below the set target of 61%. This means that the graduates of SMAW were not able to find a job within a period of six months to one year after graduation from the training center in spite of the available job opportunities within the province and its surrounding area. Batangas Bay are is notably known for industries that engage in shipbuilding, structural fabrication and other metal processing products. This is the home of the nationally acclaimed fabrication yards such as Engineering Equipment Inc. (EEI), Keppel Philippines, Inc., AGnP and other metal fabrication yards. But in spite of this opportunity, high unemployment rate prevalent among the training center graduates. The probable reason for the unemployment of graduates may be due to their skills that do not match with the requirements of industries as caused by their lack of competencies for the job. This factor may be caused by the curriculum which does not meet the requirements of the industry and the ineffective training design of the program. As a result TESDA RTC graduates are not competitive for the jobs. On the other hand, the curriculum that does not meet the requirements of the industry is caused by the lack of consultation with them. To be able to solve the performance gap, the proposed intervention is to enhance the curriculum of Shielded Metal Arc Welding through collaboration with stakeholders. By consulting the industry which is the direct beneficiaries of any training programs, the curriculum contents can be aligned to their needed requirements. The enhanced curriculum will also improve the employability of the graduates thereby meeting the 61% employment rate set by TESDA for TESD graduates. As an impact of this project, there will also be an improved national rate of employment. Through this project, there will be an enhanced curriculum for SMAW that is validated and that meets the requirements of the industry in terms of skills and knowledge that they expect from prospective employees. Also, this curriculum will be first pilot tested and evaluated in the training center before it is recommended for adoption in the whole CALABARZON region.