CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

One of the major objectives of business education is to provide technical competencies to undergraduates to have a successful career as professionals (McVay, Murphy, & Yoon, 2014). Curriculum content in the field of business provides a theoretical framework beneficial for understanding business management and, at the same time, provides undergraduates with the knowledge, skills, and techniques arguably indispensable to start up and manage small businesses effectively (Venter, 2012). Skill acquisition can serve as a career path diverging from employment provided that prior skill sets in the area of self-employment have been inculcated (Hattab, 2014; Saberi & Hamdan, 2018). In actuality, equipping business students to be self-employed is one of the effective solutions addressing the surfeit of graduates with business majors given that the labor market in most Nigeria economies cannot absorb them purely in the capacity of professionals. Universities have always been regarded as higher education spaces where students learn to think critically and to express their thinking in appropriate modes of writing and debate; discussions with professors and peers are paramount in the development of students’ intellectual skills; universities are also institutions in which the young learn to become good citizens. In one of the earliest books written on higher education in the 20th century C. H. Haskins (Costandi, Hamdan, Alareeni, & Hassan, 2018). Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new organizations with a view specially to generating innovation in response to identified business potential (Uddin & Bose, 2012). Moreover, entrepreneurship involves independent and calculated risk-taking behavior carried out for future benefit (Parker, 2013). Hattab (2014) showed that entrepreneurs identify opportunities using skills inculcated from business education. Moberg et al. (2014) added that entrepreneurial activities devolve from skills obtained from entrepreneurial education—a manifestation of entrepreneurial self-efficacy or entrepreneurial intentionality. According to Rae (2013), enterprise education positively impacts entrepreneurial intentionality by providing a wellspring of entrepreneurial skills and knowledge. It was noticed that there was a positive connection between entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial attitudes and intentions. Gibb Dyer (2013) and Fayolle, Gailly, and Lassas-Clerc (2013) confirmed that business education courses at universities positively impact perceived feasibility of new venture initiation. Previous research indicates that one of the strongest instruments to increase entrepreneurial attitudes involves dissemination of skills through entrepreneurial education (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2009). According to RAND (2013), Business education acculturates students to a vocational mindset that prepares them for the needs of a workplace geared to enterprise and innovation. It serves as a process for instilling entrepreneurial attitudes and skills (Fayolle et al., 2013). Business education is viewed as an effective means of preparing graduates to transition seamlessly from education into work in which the emphasis is not only on knowledge acquisition but also on skill acquisition and competency development through students industrial work experience scheme (Matlay & Westhead, 2013). Business courses serve as an important, though not exclusive, source for such skills and competencies directly addressing desiderata related to startup businesses. Business education agrees the notion that, despite of business specialization, students should enjoy equal privileges to own businesses through a supportive education that teaches skills necessary for entrepreneurship (Hynes & Richardson, 2011). A vital premise of business education is that skills can be acquired and are not governed by fixed personal characteristics (Hattab, 2014). Kitzer (2011) viewed an entrepreneur as a special type of labor that needs the assembling of all factors of production namely capital, land and labor, and tries to ensure maximum utilization of them for optimum profit. From the management point of view, entrepreneurs are seen as managers of small and medium businesses. They organize, manage, and assume the risk of an enterprise or a business. In entrepreneur management, an entrepreneur does not only organize resources to create wealth but manages such resources efficiently in order to maintain his/her innovation and minimize possible risks that might lie ahead. The progress of an entrepreneur lies on the ability to accept responsibility for one’s own work as a process. Business education skill acquisition development can be particularly effective in initial Undergraduate Industrial Training Scheme where the students are exposed to a world of business and aid them to develop their skills in small and medium enterprise. It is no news that the world has become private sector driven, and economic prosperity in the 21th century requires the possession of entrepreneurial skills to function. The student needs exposure in practical entrepreneurial work experience in order to be proficient in their chosen career and be useful to themselves and the society. Entrepreneurship which is a planned effort undertaken by an individual or individuals, institutions or agencies to develop the required competencies in people can easily be addressed through industrial training options. Competencies of individual’s entrepreneurial skills on industrial training are designed to lead the beneficiaries to self-employment, economic self-sufficiency, and employment generation through short or long-term training. This has lead African countries including Nigeria to realize that training through industrial training is necessary to alleviate poverty through skill acquisition. Industrial training can be described as any form of education whose primary purpose is to prepare beneficiaries for gainful employment in an occupation or group of occupations. Olaitan (2010) defined industrial training as a form of education that primarily concern the development of occupational skills needed in an individual as a preparation for work. It is a form of education which promotes the dignity of labour by entrenching work as the goal of education. Industrial training is training or retraining programme given in students outside the classroom under supervision and control. The learning experiences according to Abubakar (2010) may occur in a variety of learning context, including educational institutions and workplace. Therefore the study examines business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience in small and medium enterprise in Anambra state.

1.2      STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Business education is a programme of study that prepares individuals with multiple skills for teaching and entrepreneurship activities. Ali (2010) states that dearth of employment related skills; entrepreneurial skills and ignorance of the work environment among youths have caused economic and personal hardship within the past few years. With so many graduates in the labour market, employers look for evidence of skills which would make an individual stand out from the crowd. In the last decade there had been growing economic downturn in the country leading to a situation of drop in the capacity of government and corporate organizations to provide employment to graduates of institutions of higher learning. This has been the case with graduates of business education from colleges of education. The situation has led to a paradigm shift from relying on government jobs to the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills for self-reliance. Functional educational programmes, such as effective business education, that is supposed to instill entrepreneurship and job skills for self-sustenance amongst the colleges of education graduates, may have not done much. Hence, the study examines business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience in small and medium enterprise in Anambra state.

1.3      AIMS OF THE STUDY

The major aim of the study is to examine business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience in small and medium enterprise in Anambra state. Other specific objectives of the study include;

1.  To examine business education skill acquisition development in small and medium enterprise.

2.  To examine skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience in small and medium enterprise.

3.  To examine the impact of business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience on small and medium enterprise in Anambra State.

4.  To examine the importance of skill acquisition development in business education.

5.  To examine the relationship between business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience and small and medium enterprise in Anambra State

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.   What is business education skill acquisition development in small and medium enterprise?

2.  What is skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience in small and medium enterprise?

3.  What is the impact of business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience on small and medium enterprise in Anambra State?

4.  What is the importance of skill acquisition development in business education?

5.  What is the relationship between business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience and small and medium enterprise in Anambra State?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Hypothesis 1

H0: There are is no significant impact of business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience on small and medium enterprise in Anambra State.

H1: There is a significant impact of business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience on small and medium enterprise in Anambra State.

Hypothesis 2

H0: There is no significant relationship between business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience and small and medium enterprise in Anambra State.

H1: There is a significant relationship between business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience and small and medium enterprise in Anambra State.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The result of the study will be significantly important to business education graduates, business education lecturers, students, curriculum planners, state and federal governments, employers of business education graduates, society and other stake-holders in education. The findings of this study will yield relevant data required to strengthen, sustain and expand the entrepreneurial skills of business education graduates of colleges of education in Nigeria.  This study would also be of immense benefit to students and scholars who are interested in developing further studies on the subject matter.

1.7 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The study is restricted to business education skill acquisition development through student industrial work experience in small and medium enterprise in Anambra state.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Financial constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview)

Time constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.8 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Small Enterprise: An enterprise whose total cost including working capital but excluding cost of land is between ten million naira (N10,000,000) and one hundred million naira (N100,000,000) and/or a workforce between eleven (11) and seventy (70) full-time staff and/or with a turnover of not more than ten million naira (N10,000,000) in a year.

Medium Enterprise: A company with total cost including working capital but excluding cost of land of more than one hundred million naira (N100,000,000) but less than three hundred million naira (N300,000,000) and/or a staff strength of between seventy-one (71) and two hundred (200) full-time workers and/or with an annual turnover of not more than twenty million naira (N20,000,000) only.