Entrepreneurship Education as A Correlate of Job Creation in Benue State, Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The present study examined the relationship between entrepreneurship education programme of universities in Benue State and job creation, career intention, self productivity and poverty alleviation of undergraduate students. Four research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The correlational research design was adopted for the study. The sample for the study consisted of 225 final year undergraduate students drawn from three universities in Benue state. The instrument used for the study was a researcher-developed instrument tagged Entrepreneurship Education and Job Creation Questionnaire (EEJCQ) which was validated by experts and used for data collection. Mean and standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis and regression analysis were used to analyse the data collected. Major findings of the work showed that; (i) undergraduate students acquire entrepreneurship skills after completing an entrepreneurship education course. (ii) There was a high positive relationship between entrepreneurship skills and entrepreneurial career intention of students. (iii) There was a moderate positive relationship between entrepreneurship skills and self-productivity.(iv)There was a high positive relationship between entrepreneurship skills and poverty alleviation. (v) Entrepreneurship skills significantly influence students’ career intention, self-productivity and poverty alleviation. Based on these findings, conclusions were drawn and the implications were extensively discussed. Among the recommendations made were that universities should organize industrial tours, field trips, mentorship programmes, seminars, workshops and exchange programmes for students to engender entrepreneurship culture in them. Government and all stake holders in education industry should ensure that entrepreneurship education is adequately funded as no effective planning and implementation can take place in the absence of funds.