INTEGRATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION INTO EDUCATION CURRICULUM IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES.

BUSINESS

By

Amoor S. S Department of Vocational and Technical Education Faculty of Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria 08065618801 amoorsev2003@yahoo.com

Abstract. As the society continues to be more service-oriented, as government and private organizations continue to down-size or right-size the numbers of employees, selfemployment and business ownership have become viable and appealing goals for university graduates. In view of this, the educational institutions have a responsibility to include in their curriculum techniques to help students to develop entrepreneurial skills so that they can establish their own businesses and run them effectively. This paper examines the relevance of entrepreneurship education to business education programme and the justification to integrate entrepreneurship into the curriculum of business education programme in Nigerian universities and makes some recommendations to facilitate the integration. Introduction. Business education plays a significant role in Nigerias economic growth and development. It improves personal qualities and builds the attitudes of individuals that are necessary for adjustment to personal and employment situations, and also provides knowledge, skills and competence for individuals to function well in office occupation and also create jobs for themselves and others (Amoor and Udoh 2008). In spite of

federal governments initiatives to eradicate unemployment and poverty in the society the nations economy is still characterized by high rate of unemployment and poverty. Therefore, the importance of a curriculum that will help to reform business education programme in Nigerian Universities by developing individuals that will contribute meaningfully to economic growth and development of the nation cannot be under estimated. The uncontrolled rate of unemployment and poverty has brought about the dire need to carry out some modifications in the curriculum of business education programme in Nigerian universities so that the students will not only be exposed to a

particular skill but also to creative thinking sufficient enough to establish and run a business at least at the small scale level. Now that the nation is experiencing economic melt down, which will in turn, increase the rate of unemployment and poverty in the society, integrating entrepreneurship courses into the curriculum of business education programme in

Nigerian universities is a right call and at the right time since entrepreneurship education will provide additional skills, resources, and methodologies to business education graduates to transform their ideas into visible and viable businesses after graduating from the university. If this is rightly done, the graduands do not need to queue up in the labour market for paid employment but rather create jobs for themselves and others. This will go a long way to reduce poverty in the society and unemployment in the labour market. The Concept of Entrepreneurship Education Entrepreneurship education is an educational programme that provides the students with the knowledge, skills and motivation needed to start up a small scale business. In other words, it promotes innovation or rather introduces new products or services and market strategies to the students to become outstanding entrepreneurs. Kenton and Ervin (2000) define entrepreneurship education as an educational discipline that prepares people, especially youth to be responsible, enterprising individuals who become entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial thinkers that contribute to economic development and sustainable communities. In other words, entrepreneurship education is a programme that provides discipline to an individual to assume the responsibility and the

risk for a business operation with the expectation of making a profit. If this succeeds the entrepreneur reaps profits; and if it fails, he takes the loss. Hisrich (2002) in Kurya (2006) defines entrepreneurship as the process of creating something different with value by devoting the necessary time and efforts, assuring the accompanying financial, psychological and social risks, and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction. Another definition of

entrepreneurship that is worthy of note is Miami University of Ohio (2003) quoted in Kurya (2006) which states that Entrepreneurship is a process of identifying, developing and brings a vision to life. The vision may be an innovative idea, an opportunity or simply a better way to do something. The end result of this process is the creation of a new venture, formed under conditions of risk and considerable uncertainty. Also according to Kuryi (2006), entrepreneurship is a process through which individuals and groups pursue opportunity, leverage resources and initiative change to create value. Therefore, considering all the works cited, entrepreneurship education generally provides creative skills and knowledge needed to start and grow a business. In other words, it prepares individuals to create and successfully operate a business enterprise. Business education is a vocational education programme that provides skills and competence for business, office occupation and for self-reliance. In support of this definition, the National Board for Technical Education (1987) states that business education revolves around job skills, employability and self-dependency.

The business education curriculum in Nigerian universities has a very significant role of producing individuals who will use their skills and the abilities acquired during training to actively participate in economic growth and development wherever they find themselves. It also provides practical training opportunities and creates employment opportunities. According to Kudehinbus (2001), business education curriculum has a distinguishing role of training individuals who are not only employees but entrepreneurs that are in constant search for business opportunities, provide services or products capable of meeting the needs of customers and in return benefit from such investments. The curriculum trains individuals who serve as tools that help the government curb unemployment problems in the nation as the products find themselves in paid or selfemployment. The Contributions of Entrepreneurship Education to National Economic Growth and Development. Entrepreneurship education, in combination with business education programme in Nigerian universities will contribute to the nations economic growth and development in the following ways:1. It will help to discover talented, competitive, creative and very skillful individuals that are the nations innovative assets. 2. It will prepare individuals to be responsible and entrepreneurially conscious to contribute significantly to economic growth and development. 3. It will build a connecting link that creates productive and very thoughtful citizens that can contribute to local, regional and national competitiveness.

4.

According to Ashmore (1991), entrepreneurship education inspires and motivates students to achieve while in school and use their knowledge in a real world setting. She contributes further that entrepreneurship provides activities that build relationships, provide relevance for learning and encourage rigour in the efforts to develop academic skills to be competitive.

5.

It will encourage the business education graduates to establish small scale businesses and sustain them. These small businesses form the cornerstone of future economic growth, job creation and wealth generation.

Relevance of Entrepreneurship Education to Business Education Curriculum in Nigerian Universities. Business education has always been dedicated to preparing its graduates for employment in the world of work. According to Bettina (1991), the students learn jobspecifics and employability skills and are given opportunities to use these skills through work experience programmes that connect them with the business community. Bettina asserts further that to be effective in preparing students for a changing society and workplace, business education programme must extend beyond the delivery of occupational knowledge, job, skills and work experience. It should incorporate

entrepreneurship education into its curriculum so that it will offer the students the incentive for thinking creatively about an industry and broaden their understanding of the career opportunities afforded in that industry. In essence, entrepreneurship education will offer business education students such opportunities by helping them anticipate and respond to change. According to Ashmore (1989) vocational students learn that although a job may be successfully accomplished today by performing a given set of tasks,

tomorrow an entirely different set of tasks ( and skills) may be required; and because business opportunities are always changing, workers need to find new ways to do jobs or new ways to do a given job better. Ashmore further promotes brainstorming of potential business in the various vocational areas as a means of making students aware of selfemployment as another route to success and personal esteem. Entrepreneurship education helps the students learn how to start and run business successfully. It provides the students with information as well as administrative and operational techniques for one-man businesses. According to Minnesota State Council on Vocational and Technical Education (1989), entrepreneurship education helps the students to establish small businesses in the area in which they are educated and trained. This implies that business education graduates who are very skillful in office technology and information systems can easily establish visible and viable business centres and manage them effectively. Justification to Integrate Entrepreneurship into the Curriculum of Business Education Programme in Nigerian Universities. If entrepreneurship education is integrated into the curriculum of business education programme in Nigerian universities, it will create a motivation into the students to dream big dreams of business ownership and work hard to make things happen. It will provide relevance for learning and encourage rigour in the effort to develop academic skills to be competitive. It will serve as a bait to entice many candidates to enroll into business education programme in Nigerian universities and will promote a good learning environment that enables the students to engage in activities and projects that encompass the other parts of vocational learning, and also develop the students skills, understanding and disposition to be active and creative life long learners. It will provide the students

with the opportunities to identify and develop a range of skills and attributes that will be of use to creating and shaping their future by experiencing both business and work environment. It will also help the students to find opportunities and ideas that might be new and different, and these ideas can be applied to any area of students special interest or technology being studied. Challenges to integrate the entrepreneurship into the curriculum of Business education programme in Nigerian Universities. The likely challenges to be encountered while integrating the entrepreneurship education with the curriculum of business education programme in Nigerian universities may include:1. Lack of lecturers that are entrepreneurial conscious. The teachers awareness of entrepreneurship education, according to Elena and Markku (2003) has grown and attitudes towards the theme has become more positive but teachers may not know enough the aims, contents and work method of entrepreneurship education and therefore, may not be able to effectively impart the desired knowledge and entrepreneurial skills to the students. 2. The task of drawing up course content to be included in the curriculum of business education programme in Nigerian universities, according to Blenker et al (2003) will require a very long educational process. 3. Entrepreneurship education is capital intensive since both lecturers and students need money to practicalise the theory of initiating, establishing and running an enterprise. This may constitute a constraint and will subsequently frustrate the

integration of the entrepreneurship in business education programme in Nigerian universities.

Conclusion. Integrating the entrepreneurship education into the curriculum of business education in Nigerian universities will, in no small measure, equip business education graduates with diversified knowledge, and creative abilities to initiate, establish and run businesses that will significantly contribute to the nation economic growth and development Recommendations. For entrepreneurship education to be integrated into the curriculum of business education programme in Nigerian universities, the following recommendations are made:Teachers should be recruited, trained and re-trained in the area of entrepreneurship education. They should be sponsored to attend local and

international conferences to acquire more knowledge so that they can effectively impart the entrepreneurial skills to the students. The university management should contact some NGOs or banks to give soft loans/grants to entrepreneurship educators to establish and run their own businesses. This will enable them to acquire practical experience from their own initiatives for onward transmission to business education students.

Business education students should be thoroughly taught how to

troubleshoot,

service, maintain computer and other related office equipment. They should also be provided with adequate information about starting a new business and about business trends in order to minimize future risks and maximize success rates. This will help them to establish consultancy firms to sell and service the computers and other office related centres. The department of business education should constantly organize workshops for the students and invite successful businessmen and women to give talk on how to initiate, source for funds, start and run a business successfully. The students should be made to go on attachment to successful entrepreneurs for a period of three months. This will also help them to practically acquire equipment, and also run business

entrepreneurial skills that will enable them initiate, establish and run their businesses after graduation. In order to help the students to raise capital to run an enterprise, they should be grouped. Each group will contribute money to rent a shop, equip it and run it for their practicals.

10

References Amoor S.S. and Udoh A.A. (2008) The Role of Secretarial Education in Nigerian Economic Development. Journal of Educational Research and Development. 3: 294 -298. Ashmore, M.C (1991) Entrepreneurship in Vocational Education: In Entrepreneurship Education. Current Development. Future Promises Westport, CT. Quorum Books Elena Ruskovaara and Markku I (2003) You Get What You Measure Challenges of Entrepreneurship Edcation in School. Kenton B.W and Ervin L.B (2000) Re-engineering the undergraduate business core Curriculum: aligning business schools with business for improved performance at http: www. emeraldinsight.com. Kudehinbus (2001) A Paradim of Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial Management. Strategic Management Journal 11:17-27 Lankard, Bettina (1989) The Vocational Education/Entrepreneurship Match. ERIC Digest N. 118 Blenker, P.D. and John K. (2006) Entrepreneurship Education at University Level. Contexual Challenge, 3 Minnesota State Council on Vocational and Technical Education (1989). Developing Entrepresnurial Competence Among Minnesotas Technical Institute Students St. Paul: MSCVTE (ED319 953) National Board for Technical Education (1987). Usman L. Kurya (2006) Concept of Entrepreneurship and Types of Entrepreneurship Education for Vocational and Technical Students. Second Edition. Benchmark Publisher Limited, Kano 44-47.

11

12