THE IMPACT OF ENTREPRENEURIAL EDUCATION ON ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
ABSTRACT
Entrepreneurship is a way for people for selecting that in what way they want to pursue their life, it’s either to start their own business or going for other ways of earning. Entrepreneurial education has gone through different phases during past two decades. The significance of entrepreneurial education is now becoming a vital part of different countries as it is playing an important role in accelerating countries economic growth. Entrepreneurship is now a well-known subject especially among the students, who are willing to start up their career with launching the business of their own choice. Studies say that entrepreneurial studies through different techniques and courses have good impacts on student’s intentions and their perceived planned behavior to become entrepreneurs. The variable opportunity identification perception has an effect on the intention of a person to recognize an area obtainable for introducing the business of her/his own choice. This research initiated to learn and understand the impact of entrepreneurial education on student’s entrepreneurial intentions and to understand this, some variables are selected through which relationship among the students and their entrepreneurial career are explained. The research focused on fundamental question as to why an individual prefer to be an entrepreneur and what factors motivates his intentions was considered an important question in the research? Entrepreneurship courses are now a part of university’s course schema and many researchers have focused this topic conducted, this research aims to identify the importance and relevance of entrepreneurial studies of institutions and their effects on the entrepreneurial intentions of the students. The scale method has been to develop an instrument based on Likert Scale method; the reliability has been checked and found up to the mark. The survey covers the questions based on student’s perception, intentions, behavioral control and other important factors, responsible for making an entrepreneur of future. The study employed the descriptive and explanatory design; questionnaires in addition to library research were applied in order to collect data. Primary and secondary data sources were used and data was analyzed using the chi square statistical tool at 5% level of significance which was presented in frequency tables and percentage. The respondents under the study were 100 undergraduates in the University of Abuja in Gwagwalada, FCT, Nigeria. The study findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between entrepreneurial education and the students’ entrepreneurial intentions; based on the findings from the study, Universities should support the development of effective initiatives that include teaching the benefits and opportunities of self-employment.