Socio-Economic Impacts and Challenges of Entrepreneurship Education in Public Universities in the South-South Geopolitical Zone, Nigeria
Keywords:
Entrepreneurship Education, University, Socio-Economic, Impacts, ChallengesAbstract
This study investigated the socio-economic impacts and challenges of entrepreneurship education (E.E.) in public universities in Nigeria's South-South geopolitical zone. Two objectives, two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study, which adopted a descriptive survey design. The study population comprised 19 public universities in the region, with an academic staff strength of 11,400 lecturers. A sample of 1,140 lecturers (680 male and 460 female), representing 10% of the population, was drawn using stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a questionnaire titled “Socio-Economic Impacts and Challenges of Entrepreneurship Education in Public Universities in South-South Geopolitical zone of 12 Nigeria Questionnaire (S-EICEEPUSSNQ)”. The instrument, which contained 20 items, was satisfactorily validated, and Cronbach's alpha produced a general reliability score of 0.84. The researcher and two research assistants administered 1,140 copies, and 1,065 copies were retrieved. This gave a retrieval rate of 93%. The z-test was employed to test the hypotheses at a significance level of 0.05, while the mean, standard deviation, and rank order were employed to address the research questions. The findings revealed that the socio-economic impacts of entrepreneurship education in public universities in South-South Nigeria include, among others, fostering ethical values; promoting social responsibilities; enhancing the growth of MSMEs; increasing revenue generation; and enhancing GDP growth and effective resource utilisation. Challenges to implementing entrepreneurship education effectively in public universities in South-South Nigeria include, among others, an inadequate curriculum, pedagogical issues, corruption, insecurity, and poor funding. Based on the findings, the researcher drew a conclusion and recommended, among others, that the government ensure entrepreneurship education is adequately funded and that all necessary facilities and human resources for effective programme implementation are provided.
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