ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION PROGRAMME AND ITS INFLUENCE IN DEVELOPING ENTREPRENEURSHIP KEY COMPETENCIES AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Abstract

The intent of this research is to assess the implementation state of entrepreneurship programme and its influence in developing entrepreneurship key competencies among undergraduate students. The survey design was employed for the research. A total population of 8,101 undergraduate students from University of Benin was used. A sample of 382 undergraduate students was used for the research. A structured questionnaire, validated by two experts was used for the data collection. The Cronbach alpha statistical method was employed to determine the reliability of the instrument, which yielded the coefficient alpha value of 0.87. Twenty items questionnaire was administered to the respondents with the help of two trained research assistants. The data were analyzed using the mean, standard deviation, and t-test statistics. The research revealed that entrepreneurship programme is not properly implemented particularly at the university level. It also revealed that students are not well-equipped with entrepreneurship key competencies such as creative and innovative skills that would have helped them in starting and running their own business. It also revealed that there was no significant difference between the mean responses of Science and Arts/Humanity-based students regarding the implementation state of entrepreneurship programme. It further revealed that there was no significant difference between the mean responses of Science and Arts/Humanity-based students regarding the extent to which entrepreneurship programme has equipped students with creative and innovative skills. Consequently, the authors drew a useful conclusion for the subject matter. Providing sufficient amount of financial resources, involving employers of labour, sourcing for qualified teaching and non-teaching personnel, procuring the state-of-the-art infrastructural facilities, as well as utilizing appropriate instructional methods, that would help in equipping students with creative and innovative skills for starting and operating their own businesses were further recommended. Keywords: creative skills, entrepreneurship education, innovative skills, operating business, starting business, unemployment situation.