Assessment of Entrepreneurship Education and Employment Generation among University Graduates in Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of entrepreneurship education on employment generation and the effect of entrepreneurial skill acquisition on entrepreneurial performances. It also examined the impact of the university attended on employment generation among Nigerian graduates. Survey research design was employed for the study. 72 graduates’ entrepreneurs which form our respondents were selected from 6 Local government Areas (LGAs) of Oyo State, South West, Nigeria, through the use of multi-stage sampling technique. Primary data were used for the study and were gathered through the use of structured questionnaire. The relationship among entrepreneurship education, training, university type, employment generation and entrepreneurs’ performances were tested using t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The results showed that majority (82.6%) of the respondents agreed that entrepreneurial education empowered them to start a business of their own (r= 0.826, p < 0.05). Also, the results indicated that skill acquisition by majority (61.4%) of the respondents had improved their performance (r= 0.614, p < 0.05). Furthermore, the results showed that there exist significant differences between types of university attended and employment generation among the graduates’ entrepreneurs. The study concluded that increased entrepreneurial education and training had led to increased employment generation among university graduates in Nigeria.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship Education, Training, Employment Generation and Entrepreneurial Performances