Entrepreneurship Education as Panacea for Unemployment Reduction

Previous studies have affirmed the importance of entrepreneurship education in developing, motivating, and empowering entrepreneurs especially ex-students cannot be over emphasized, because it has led to the positive increase in the existence of entrepreneurs, which, to a great extent, is responsible for the creation of more job opportunities and the reduction of unemployment. Looking at the increasing rate of unemployment, entrepreneurship education has helped in developing entrepreneurs after the classroom, which greatly culminates into curbing the problem of unemployment in in various economies. This study investigated the extent to which entrepreneurship education and its impact in the reduction of unemployment using ex-students four Universities (two private and two public) as a case for the study. With the aid of questionnaire as a data collection instrument, 150 ex-Students currently running their businesses were randomly selected. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze their responses. Findings revealed that the catastrophic problem of unemployment can to a great extent be reduced through educating, motivating, developing, and empowerment of students as entrepreneurs. It also shows that there is a strong relationship between entrepreneurship education and unemployment reduction as most intentions were translated into actions. The results of this study further revealed that practical entrepreneurship classes have helped in motivating students to become entrepreneurs after graduation. Considering these findings, it is recommended that entrepreneurship education, motivation, development and empowerment should be taken serious by the educational institutions in developing economies. And students at all levels should be encouraged to engage in entrepreneurial activities in order to further reduce the rate of unemployment in developing economies. This will enable them to be employers instead of jobseekers.