Effect of Entrepreneurship Education on Entrepreneurial Intentions among Graduating Students of Nasarawa State University, Keffi-Nigeria

Abstract

Graduate unemployment has risen from 6.4% in 2014 to 27.1% in 2020 despite the introduction of entrepreneurship education as a mandatory course in tertiary institutions in Nigeria aimed at encouraging graduates to be self-reliant and less dependent on scarce paid employment. This worrisome situation propelled this study which examined the effect of entrepreneurship education proxied by curriculum, androgogy and university support on entrepreneurial intentions among graduating students of Nasarawa State University, Keffi. Adopting a cross-sectional research design, data were collected with the aid of a structured five-point Likert scale questionnaire from a sample of 93 respondents drawn conveniently from final year students of the institution. Path regression analysis using structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test the hypotheses formulated and the results revealed that curriculum has negative but insignificant effect on entrepreneurial intentions while androgogy and university support both have positive effects however, while androgogy showed significant effect, university support showed insignificant effect on entrepreneurial intentions and hence the study concludes that entrepreneurship education influences entrepreneurial intentions among graduating students. Consequently, the study recommends among others that university should encourage business plan competition and individuals with good business plans be funded and supervised by professionals and also, real life experiences be inculcated in the teaching method by way of inviting successful entrepreneurs to give talks and guidance on successful venturing.