Entrepreneurial Skills Need of Business Education Students for Small Scale Enterprise Development in Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to determine entrepreneurial skills need of business education students for small scale enterprise development in Cross River State. Three specific objectives, three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study was 408 respondents made up of 390 Business Education students and 18 Business Education lecturers in Cross River State University. The sample size was 306 respondents made up of 293 Business Education students and 13 Business Education lecturers. Convenience sampling technique was used to select respondents for the study. A structured questionnaire entitled, "Entrepreneurial Skills Need of Business Education Students Questionnaire (ESNBESQ)" was used for data collection. The instrument was given to three research experts for face validation. The internal reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha method and the reliability index of 0.87 was obtained. The data collected were analysed using Mean and Improvement Need Index (INI) to answer the research questions while independent t-test was used to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The findings revealed that there is skill need and significant difference in the mean responses of students and Business Education lecturers on planning, communication and time management skills for small scale enterprise development in Cross River State. It is recommended among others that Cross River State governments through Ministry of Finance should increase budgetary allocation to entrepreneurial skill training to ensure that Cross River State Universities get the needed finance for training of Business Education students in business planning.