Entrepreneurship education curriculum and entrepreneurial outcomes in the higher education sector: a Nigerian case study

It is now known that Entrepreneurship Education (EE) not only develops and prepares students to be successful in owning and operating a business venture but also, if effectively provided, holistically develops students to master their environments, deal with the challenges and complexities of life, and other globalisation imperatives, fit well into society and the world of work, and be successful in all aspects of societal life. However, the experience in Nigeria with the compulsory EE programme has been a subject of debate. Research on EE phenomena in the country has continued to produce conflicting results, although the reality of the situation, as shown in the number of unemployed graduates and from the accounts of students, graduates, lecturers, employers, and other EE stakeholders, tend to suggest that the EE programme is poorly implemented and as a result, has failed to meet the intended goals of the programme. Unfortunately, no study appears to have been conducted that aims to unravel these questions by examining both the curriculum content and its delivery, as well as the impact thereof on the entrepreneurial outcomes of students and graduates, using a combination of three theoretical bases. To bridge this gap in Nigeria’s EE research involved attempting to achieve the following three research objectives: To examine the nature of EE course curriculum content used by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Nigeria; to examine the quality of delivery of the EE course content in Nigerian HEIs; to determine the nature of the impact of the course content of EE and its delivery in the Nigerian HEIs on the entrepreneurial outcomes of Undergraduates and Graduates. Towards achieving these objectives, the study utilised a tripartite theoretical framework – the constructivist, institutional, and human capital (HC) theories – to unravel the questions bordering on the nature of EE curriculum content, its delivery, and the impact of the curriculum content and its delivery systems on entrepreneurial outcomes of undergraduates and graduates of tertiary education institutions in Nigeria. Following the qualitative research tradition, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Thirty-nine stakeholders of EE in Nigeria, including undergraduates, graduates, and lecturers, were selected through the purposive sampling method. Thematic analysis was adopted in the study. The study revealed that the EE curriculum content has low utility value due to its focus on “education about” entrepreneurship rather than “education for” entrepreneurship. It is not aligned with the EE policy goals, nor with students’ levels of study. The curriculum content lacks validity because it is not aligned with students’ current and future career needs and competencies as it does not reflect differences in students’ disciplines as well as its outmoded and devoid-of-technology emphasis nature; the feasibility of the content delivery is impacted by a low quality of delivery and inhibited accessibility to the EE training; the combination of the content issues and the delivery shortcomings impacts negatively the achievement of students and graduates entrepreneurial skills, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and internal locus of control. Beneficiaries of the compulsory EE programme in Nigerian HEIs, therefore, cannot produce graduates who can drive the economy through job creation, thereby enhancing the country’s human capital status. A major contribution of this study to EE theory is the confirmation that the quality of EE curriculum content and its delivery is a pertinent factor that impacts graduates' and undergraduates’ propensity to develop entrepreneurial skills and other attributes such as self-efficacy and internal locus of control. Moreover, pertinent contextual factors identified in this study point to specific areas where action is required in Nigeria’s EE policy and its implementation, and this further contributes to enriching EE policy formulation and practice in the country. However, it is important to note that few instances exist where students' and graduates' experience in the programme are positively different, either because they attend private universities, they have wealthy parents who fill the gap where the authorities have failed, or they resort to self-help to participate in the EE training effectively. The implementation of the policy is therefore not uniform across the HEIs. Finally, the study opens windows of research opportunities, such as comparative studies of EE implementation in public versus private universities in Nigeria.

Citation

Dumeayam, P.J. (2025) Entrepreneurship education curriculum and entrepreneurial outcomes in the higher education sector: a Nigerian case study. University of Wolverhampton. https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/626193

Publisher

University of Wolverhampton

URI

https://wlv.openrepository.com/handle/2436/626193

Type

Thesis or dissertation

Language

en

Description

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Collections

Theses and Dissertations