Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development in Nigerian Universities: Moving beyond vocational skills teaching

Abstract

Entrepreneurship and enterprise development in Nigerian universities have been on the increase considering their potential to create jobs and reduce the rise of unemployment. This approach that universities have embraced is largely focused on the teaching of vocational skills which has a thin impact on reducing graduate unemployment and meeting the strategic objective of repositioning the universities. The focus of this study is to examine whether entrepreneurial and enterprise teaching in Nigerian universities is slanted toward the acquisition of vocational skills. The study adopts the theory of Planned Behaviour and Kolb experiential learning theory to explain the concepts of entrepreneurship and enterprise development in stimulating the entrepreneurial spirit. The study adopts a descriptive research design and data was collected using a structured questionnaire that was administered physically and online to elicit information from respondents. The sample size for the study is 300 students that were randomly selected from 10 universities made up of 5 public and 5 private universities in South West Nigeria. Data collected were analysed using regression analysis. Findings revealed that the current practice of teaching vocational skills is not effective as shown by the perennial increase in graduate unemployment. The study recommends the teaching of entrepreneurship and enterprise development anchored on value addition, opportunity, and wealth creation with a view to repositioning university graduates for the 21st century’s challenges and opportunities.