Effects of Human Resources Development Through Vocational Education Curriculum on the Academic Achievements of the Students in Vocational Schools: The Case of Erzincan University

Qualified and productive labor shortage is one of the main problems in today's business world. This situation shows the importance of vocational and technical education for business life and economy of the countries. Therefore, it is important to note that the vocational education programs should ensure the coherence between students' existing knowledge and expectations of the business world. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of new education program (HRD-VET; Human Resources Development through Vocational Education and Training) on the academic success of vocational school students. Differently from the literature, this research is important for the reason that it is performed on either the students studying with former educational program or the students studying new KMEP educational program. The participants of the study are composed of 167 students studying at Computer Programming program in Erzincan University. In this study, we used comparative method of research technique and the average point of the students' grade is analyzed with t-test. The results of the study illustrated that KMEP education program has positive effect on student academic success for students who are admitted to the vocational school without entrance exam.