LECTURERS’ AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION AND POLYTECHNIC STUDENTS’ INTENTION IN SELF-RELIANCE IN NORTH EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

Entrepreneurship Education emerged few decades ago as instrument through which poverty could be alleviated from amongst Nigerian youth; by providing opportunities and ways of occupational alternatives and choices to which graduates of Polytechnic Institutions are a part. This program has not yielded any fruitful result as the students from the polytechnic and elsewhere always keep graduating to increase the number of unemployed. Thus, the region is left far behind educationally and economically leading to high record of insecurity in the region particularly the Boko-Haram where it started. This work intends to explore the sensitivity of the Polytechnic students in the Polytechnics in Northeastern Nigeria towards entrepreneurship education in inducing venture creation after their tertiary education. This project will in no small measure keep students and lecturers abreast on rigorous participation in entrepreneurial activities. In the long run, the project is expected to bring about increased rate of venture creation among the polytechnic students since they are encouraged by this research to be more serious with entrepreneurship education. The researcher collected data through questionnaires (open-ended). Random sampling was employed to collate the data for this work. Demographic analysis, normality test, factor analysis were carried out using the SPSS 23. However, hypotheses were tested using the PLS-SEM. The expected study focuses on low level of practical sessions for students, inadequate curriculum content, and lack of depth treatment of the subjects, less time allocated for the subject and less qualified lecturers who teach the subject EED. The study makes recommendations that are capable of improving EED that guarantees successful venture creation by students after graduation.