The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education Management on Unemployment Reduction Among Tertiary Institution Graduates in Cross River State, Nigeria

One major challenge in Nigeria today is unemployment. Among this unemployed population are graduates of tertiary institutions. Many stakeholders have expressed concern over the large numbers of graduates produced yearly without commensurate employment opportunities. To address this challenge, the federal government through the National Universities commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), approved the introduction of entrepreneurship education into the curricula of the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. The increase in unemployment among graduates of tertiary institution is an indication that the objectives of entrepreneurship education has not been fully attained and this calls to question the management of entrepreneurship education in the nations tertiary institutions. This study examined the impact of entrepreneurship education management on unemployment reduction among tertiary institution graduates in Cross River State, Nigeria. Three null hypotheses were developed to guide the study. The descriptive survey research design was adopted. Census technique was adopted in selecting the entire population of 113 entrepreneurship education management staff of five tertiary institutions in Cross River State. An instrument titled Impact of Entrepreneurship Education Management on Unemployment Reduction Among Tertiary Institution Graduates Questionnaire (IEEMURATIGQ) was used for data collection. It was validated by five experts. The reliability was established using Cronbach’s alpha and it ranges from 0.79 – 0.88. The null hypothesis was tested at .05 level of significance using Simple and Multiple Linear Regression. The results of the study reveals that planning entrepreneurship programme, staff supervision and student mentoring have significant impact on unemployment reduction among tertiary institution graduates in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study recommended among others, that entrepreneurship education must be efficiently planed to facilitate the smooth attainment of set goals and objectives, namely job creation and unemployment reduction.