Determinants of Career Choice of Technical and Vocational Students: A Case of Ho Polytechnic

Abstract

Entrepreneurship and private sector development are essential ingredients for achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty. Most tertiary institutions in Ghana spend a lot of time and resources equipping their students with the right skills to turn ambitions into successful ventures. However, some graduates still seek employment in already established firms and those who are unable to acquire their intended jobs remain unemployed despite all attempts made to make entrepreneurship attractive.

It is in line with this that this research was undertaken to determine the factors that influence Higher National Diploma (HND) students’ preference for self-employment relative to wage and salary employment of Ho Polytechnic. The study also analysed the factors that are important to the entrepreneurial intention of students. The study employed the descriptive research design. Data was collected using structured questionnaires.

The study revealed that respondents have higher tendency of going into public employment. Also the study revealed that the entrepreneurship education was appreciated by students and actually informed their decision for self-employment. It was recommended that attention be given to generating interests of students as they do not have interests in creating own businesses. To achieve this, lecturers must change their approach to teaching and have regular interaction with students by receiving feedback from them. Teaching should move away from the traditional methods where students are lectured to a more practical oriented teaching.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship education, private sector development, employment