The Challenges Confronting Entrepreneurship Education in the Universities in Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated challenges confronting entrepreneurship education in the Federal, State and Private Universities in Nigeria. The population of the study comprised of 27,503 final year students in the eight Universities in South-Eastern Zone of Nigeria. The study involved a sample of 618 final year students selected through the stratified random sampling technique. A 48-item instrument validated and with cronbach alpha reliability index of 0.85 was used to collect data for the study. The research question was answered with mean scores and rank order while the null hypothesis was tested with one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed among others that the challenges seriously confronting entrepreneurship education in the Universities are inadequate funding, inadequate time for practical activities, lack of continuous assessment and feedback and societal orientation. Others include lack of data, trained manpower, research materials, essential textbooks, interests among students and commitment by lecturers. It was recommended that Government should regularly monitor and evaluate the programme to assess progress being made and address the challenges confronting entrepreneurship education courses in the Universities in Nigeria.