Entrepreneurship Education (EEd) was introduced in Nigeria universities as a compulsory course for more than half a decade now. It was hoped that EEd would help make graduates from Nigerian universities both employable and job creators. This ultimately would bring about reduced unemployment and increased productivity by enhancing the entrepreneurial skills of graduates in the country. However, after almost a decade of implementing EEd, graduates are not creating jobs as expected and unemployment is still rising among graduates. This has brought the question on the effectiveness of the EEd programme in the Nigerian universities.  This study therefore, examined the impact of entrepreneurship education on the enhancement of entrepreneurial skills among undergraduates in south-eastern universities. Four research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey design was deployed in the study. The instrument - Entrepreneurship Education and the Enhancement of Entrepreneurial Skills (EEEESQ) was used to generate data. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions while t-test was used to analyze the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that Entrepreneurship Education curriculum to a very great extent, inculcates entrepreneurial skills in undergraduates. Additionally, the findings also showed that there is poor utilization of entrepreneurship education pedagogies in the teaching of entrepreneurship education in South-eastern universities. Following from the findings, some recommendations were made which include among others that: appropriate pedagogies should be used in delivering Entrepreneurship Education; and that EEd contents should derive from industry and market requirements.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Education is a veritable tool for enhancing economic growth and national development. It is seen as the cornerstone of development because it forms the basis of literacy, skill acquisition, technological advancement, knowledge acquisition and ability to harness the natural resources of the environment. Ayara  in  Antai and Anam (2009) asserts that education creates better citizens and helps to upgrade the general standard of living in a society. The education sector in any country is very important because education supplies the skilled manpower needed for the achievement of national economic goals and objectives. In the view of Adeogun (2003), education is a major instrument for tackling unemployment, poverty and ignorance. Some of the cardinal aims of education according to the National Policy on Education (2004:6) include; “The development of the intellectual capacity of individuals to understand and appreciate their environment and the acquisition of both physical and intellectual skills which will enable individuals to develop into useful members of the community”. This objective of education is laudable and could be attained in the universities, through appropriate quality education and research.

University is an institution of higher education and research which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects and provides both undergraduate and postgraduate education. One of the objectives of tertiary institutions, according to the National Policy on Education, (2004) include: “acquiring both physical and intellectual skills which will enable individuals to be self-reliant and useful members of the society”. Unfortunately, the possession of university degrees is no longer a guarantee for employment. Many young graduates continue to roam the streets in search of jobs. This has led to a general feeling of despondency among them. Evidence below shows unemployment rate in Nigeria since 1995;

Figure 1: National Unemployment Rates (1995-2011)

Source: National Bureau of Statistics, 2012.

The table above shows that unemployment rate in Nigeria has been on steady increase from 7% in 1995 to 28% in 2011. Successive Nigerian governments are unable to solve this economic malaise. Unemployment among graduates has remained one of the fundamental challenges threatening the economic development and stability of Nigeria. The   situation in Nigeria is gloomy with seven (7) out of 10 graduates being either unemployed, underemployed or simply unemployable as at 2006, while over 200,000 graduates remain unemployed as at the last five years (Ayoola, 2008). Considering the fact that these graduates constitute the most active segments of the population, their inability to find good jobs portend grave danger for the country. Unfortunately, owing to the dysfunctional nature of our educational system, most of them do not possess relevant skills that would –be employers may need. Additionally, the huge number of  Nigerians graduating from various tertiary institutions each year further worsen the situation as the economy as presently constituted, is incapable of absorbing most of them. The bleak employment climate therefore, partly accounts for the general insecurity in the nation such as terrorism, violent crimes, advanced fee fraud and other sundry unpatriotic behavior.

The stated problems  above prompted the Federal Government to establish Entrepreneurship Development Centres in South-Eastern Universities to fill the skills acquisition gap in our universities and consequently, equip students with appropriate skills with which to survive in the present economic climate. Additionally, efforts have been made by various governments and institutions in Nigeria to tackle the growing rate of graduate unemployment in the country through job creation and facilitation of various mechanisms to empower graduates. A good example is the establishment of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in 1986, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 2000, the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) reform in 2003, Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YOU-WIN) of 2011 and the current Subsidy Re-investment Programme  (SURE-P) of 2012, etc. However, it has been observed that these efforts have achieved limited success in reducing graduate unemployment as is evidenced in the prevailing unemployment rates in the country.

The high rate of graduate unemployment in Nigeria has been blamed on the fact that most graduates from Nigerian universities are unemployable (Chiaha  and Agu, 2013).  It is due to this high unemployment rate among graduates in universities that the National Universities Commission (NUC) introduced entrepreneurship education in the university curriculum as a compulsory course (Uzoka, 2008). With the introduction of entrepreneurship education in the curriculum of Nigerian universities by the NUC, it becomes obvious that entrepreneurship education is considered an effective way of equipping graduates with the desired employability skills.

Entrepreneurship education is novel in the curriculum of higher education in Nigeria (Anannagoon, Akudo and Emetarom, 2008) . According to the authors, only a few universities seem to have introduced it as a compulsory course. Among the few universities in South-Eastern Nigeria offering Entrepreneurship Education as a compulsory course of study are; the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), which has a Centre for Entrepreneurship and Development Research (CEDR). It is structured to manage both Nsukka and Enugu campuses;  Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka (UNIZIK), which has Chike Okoli Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies (COCES); Federal University of  Technology Owerri (FUTO) which has a Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies (CES); Federal University of Agriculture, Umudike which operates a Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED).

Entrepreneurship education is unique in the sense that, unlike many other courses, it seeks to change people”s attitudes and beliefs and to equip them with the skills necessary to plan, launch, and successfully manage their own business enterprises and that of others as well. Entrepreneurship education therefore, could be conceptualized as the type of educational process geared towards equipping students with creative and innovative ideas that will enhance self- employment and job creation (Ibe, 2008). Entrepreneurship education inculcates in individuals entrepreneurial skills that enable them confront situations in creative and innovative ways (Chiaha and Agu, 2013). Chiaha and Agu further explained that such entrepreneurial individuals create jobs for themselves and others thereby reducing unemployment. Even when such individuals are employed by other enterprises, they as intrapreneurs easily become agents of business expansion and growth leading to the creation of more business opportunities and more jobs. Corollarily, Ikeme (2012) sees entrepreneurship education as a carefully planned process that eventuates into the acquisition of entrepreneurial competencies through appropriate curriculum content.

 Curriculum is seen as an important element of education. This is due to the fact that the aims of education are reflected in the curriculum. It is through curriculum that the general aims of school education receive concrete expression. Curriculum is a group of related courses, often in a special field of study. Kuratko (2009) defines curriculum as “the instructional and educative program through which the pupils achieve their goals and aspirations of life”. Curriculum therefore, could be defined as the planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials, resources, and processes for evaluating the attainment of educational objectives. It includes the content of courses (the syllabus), the methods employed (strategies), and other aspects, like norms and values, which relate to the way the school is organized. Curriculum content refers to what is taught  in school, it is the subject matter or topics consisting of facts, concepts, ideas, knowledge within a particular subject and how they will bring about change in the individual and to the society (Uzoka, 2006). Curriculum content also comprises all disciplines in life which school or any educational institution requires giving the student or learner for a given period. According to Chiaha and Agu (2013), teaching entrepreneurship education with the right curriculum content is very essential as it facilitates development of core entrepreneurship traits and skills using the appropriate entrepreneurship education pedagogies.

Education pedagogy, is the art and science of teaching, it relates to how teachers teach and what strategies they use in their work. The use of education pedagogies in universities expose students to the possibility of  acquiring a very high level of entrepreneurial skills as a result of using a variety of pedagogies, especially those that are centred highly on the psychomotor and affective domains (Agu, Chiaha and Ikeme,2013 ).  They  further listed  the best practices in entrepreneurship education pedagogies used in universities such as: business plan competition; internship; use of model teachers (use of lecturers with real life entrepreneurship experience); mentor-mentee interaction and relationship; field trips; business games; industry spin-offs; business incubation; experimental laboratories; lecture method; case studies; practical business projects; and students entrepreneurship conference. In teaching entrepreneurship education, resource persons and facilities are usually very important. A resource person is one who has knowledge, relevant skills, competence and expertise to give a talk, guidance or first-hand information in a given subject area. They could also be seen as persons who are well versed with the subject matter (Okala, 2004). On the hand, facilities can be defined as something that permits the easier performance of an action, course of conduct, etc. It can also be defined as something designed, built, installed, etc to serve a specific function affording a convenience or service. Education curriculum content is said to be achieved when the appropriate resource persons, facilities and the right pedagogies are well utilized in the university. This in other words, will go a long way in enhancing entrepreneurial skills in undergraduates.

Skill could be defined as the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. The concept of skill comes from the field of psychology, where it is widely used to explain human development across different domains. Fischer and Bidell (2005) define skill as “a capacity to act in an organized way in a specific context”. A skill is a translation of one”s expertise/knowledge into a behavior. In adapting the skill concept to entrepreneurial behavior, it is suggested that entrepreneurial skills represent a capacity to organize and develop a business successfully and sustainably.

   Entrepreneurial skill is simply the necessary set of skills required to be an entrepreneur. In other words, entrepreneurial skill is that necessary skill an individual needs to successfully run a business or add value to work. These entrepreneurial skills include: communication skills; creative/innovative skills; decision-making skills; problem-solving skills; planning and organizing skills; risk management skills; self management skills; technological/technical skills; teamwork skills; learning skills; initiative skills; enterprise skills; financial skills; managerial skills, marketing/saleable skills; interpersonal relationship skills; integrity skills; practical skills; assertiveness skills; leadership skills; listening skills; openness to change and business identification skills (Edith Cowan University, 2013), (de Oliveira 2008), (precision consultancy 2007). Graduates need these employability skills to be able to work in private business enterprises thereby making it possible for prospective graduates to be intrapreneurs in private business enterprises and also to be managers of their own businesses after graduation.