Perception of Entrepreneurship Education in Adekunle Ajasin University : The Gender Perspective

Nigeria’s poverty level has continued to increase; unemployment has also characterised the dilemma of her teeming young university and tertiary institutions graduates without much solution in sight. A few years ago, Nigeria devised a coping strategy in the form of Entrepreneurship Education in universities and tertiary institutions to cushion the effect of unemployment among graduates through job creation and self-reliance for economic growth of the country. However, there has been a wrong perception of Entrepreneurship education among the government, administrators of institutions, instructors and students alike which if not corrected might culminate in misplaced priority thereby, serving a tangential role in addressing its mandate. It is against this background that this study discusses the perception and teaching/learning process of Entrepreneurship Education in Adekunle Ajasin University. The qualitative method of eliciting information through Focus Group was used to obtain information from 181 Adult Education student respondents of 200 -400 Levels. 10 instructors and 5 administrative staff were also interviewed through the key Informant process. Findings show that although, Entrepreneurship education is not believed to be synonymous with Vocational education by both female and male students of Adekunle Ajasin University, AkungbaAkoko nor do the instructors hold the opinion as well; but Entrepreneurship education is not learnt and taught accordingly as it is more theoretical than practical. It is recommended however, that Entrepreneurship education need to be taught more practically, domesticated and diversified to meet local needs, contexts and situations. A commitment is also required from administration to put in place necessary impetus for a good functioning unit of Entrepreneurship studies.


Introduction
Over the years, Nigeria had been a victim of acculturation through colonization.Although, she had her indigenous education and culture which influenced her political and socio-economic parameters, these were traded for foreign culture .Among the factors that influence the socio-economic way of life of the Nigerian people before colonisation are agriculture, skill development in the form of Vocational education and entrepreneurship which go side by side with the passing over of indigenous norms and values through indigenous education.However, she got formal education through colonisation which suppressed agriculture, craftsmanship, apprenticeship and entrepreneurial activities of her people.Although, formal education had its positive impact on Nigeria, it came into being while promoting the philosophy of education of other lands which became a big challenge till date.At inception, job opportunities abound for educated youths in the public service.However, unemployment had been on the rise since the 1980s, Nigeria can no longer absorb her teeming youth population into the formal sector.
Another factor that led to unemployment of the people is the discovery of crude oil hitherto in the 60s.Nigeria played premium to agriculture which serves as the country's major revenue and because of its divergence into various areas like services and industries many people were engaged.The per capital income of the people was very steady but with the discovery of crude oil attention was shifted from agriculture to the mining and this restricted the workforce that was engaged in that sector thereby, throwing majority of the population of workforce into the labour market.Nigeria with an estimated population of about 162 million people, depend on oil that generates about 90% of foreign exchange earnings and 75% for government revenue contributing about 30% of GDP but employs only 3% of the labour force (Akpobasah, 2004).The resent immigration service recruitment of over 500,000 job seekers vying for 4,556 vacant positions is a testimony to the high level of unemployment.Presently, unemployment stands at 23.9% officially (The Punch April 23, 2014).
Nigeria, despite her wealth of resources is among the five countries of the world where the extreme poor are concentrated.About 112million of the 162million population live below 194($1.25)per day.(Punch, April 23, 2014).The inability of the government to provide job opportunities for her teeming population and her performance in the global economy brought about the policy of two mandatory courses of entrepreneurship which should be run in two semesters and to be taught to all students in tertiary institutions irrespective of their course of study and as a major discipline to build the capacity of youths to enable them identify and exploit opportunities in the environment.(Sagagi, 2011).A centre for entrepreneurship studies to coordinate the programme was thus established in all tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
The National Universities Commission (NUC) went on visitation to both local and foreign universities, Conferences and workshops were organized, linkages with international institutions and association for entrepreneurship educators were also formed (Sagagi, 2011).
Image 1: The First Conference on Entrepreneurship Education in AAUA Perhaps, it may be of interest also that westernized countries had to utilize Entrepreneurship education to solve their societal problem as The European Economic and Social Committee (2003) puts it succinctly that: The decrease in the number of firms and the increase in the number of young people enrolling in longer educations have led to more and more voices both in the school system in general and in particular at university level, demanding contact with "the society it is part of" to be re-established ( p.18 as quoted by Blenker et al, 2006).….How can education support the development awareness and skills necessary for developing an entrepreneurial mindset and skills?(Blenker et al, 2006 p.47)It is thus not out of place for Nigeria to seek solutions to her socio-economic problem especially, in job creation among her citizenry.Adekunle Ajasin University (AAUA) is one of the Nigerian universities teaching entrepreneurship courses to her students at all levels irrespective of their course of study as stipulated by NUC.This is in line with the fact that the Nigerian youth needs to be exposed to the concept of entrepreneurship, cutting through academic discipline more so, a 21 st Century University promoting lifelong learning.Gibb (2002) affirms that: The ideaIs to establish education in an area with access to, and cooperation with, the "stakeholder community" and to take part in joint ventures and incubator activities together with other stakeholders, in order to always look at your values with other stakeholders' eyes.
With the role that entrepreneurship is expected to play in our society especially, in job creation, It is pertinent to understand its perception.
Authors differ in opinion about entrepreneurship but each perception has similar views.For instance, Sagagi (2011) used a six point scale to determine the concept of entrepreneurship thus: -New venture creation (start-ups and new projects) -Innovative growth of small business and creative developments in large firms (new ways of managing change).-Development of new products, services and new ways of managing organisations (innovation).
-Concerns small business in particular, but also large firms, NGOs, government departments and support services.-Social change; change in the direction of creating prosperous, healthy and peaceful society -Mindset change-personal development (Sagagi, 2011 p. 1) Also, Mitra (2012) argues that entrepreneurship and innovation are made via fantasy, storytelling, visioning, creativity, science, technological application, research, team effort, commercialization and changing lives we lead.Meanwhile, Schumpeter (1934) opines that entrepreneurship is a force of "creative destruction" whereby established ways of doing things are destroyed by the creation of new and better ways to get things done.The process of reforming or evolutionalising the pattern of production by exploiting an invention, an untried technological possibility for producing a new commodity or producing an old one in a new way by opening up a new source of supply of materials or a new outlet for production.
A cursory look at these concepts indicates creativity, novelty, innovation, opportunity, production and change.
It has also been argued that entrepreneurs possess certain characteristics.Successful entrepreneurs were said to exhibit these traits.It has been proved however, that the traits discussed are not peculiar to entrepreneurs; such traits can also be found in successful managers and executives.For instance O'Neil (1989) and Bailey (2003) affirm that the entrepreneur is a product of his historical and environmental circumstances.Brockhaus and Horwitz (1986) also claim that an entrepreneur is influenced by the event that led to his or her decision whether negative or positive.Entrepreneurs could be influenced positively by role models or education.At the same time unemployment, job loss or job dissatisfaction could lead a person to be an entrepreneur.
However, Hunter (2012) reiterates that entrepreneurship has been played up by the media as a visionary and heroic activity.He says entrepreneurship is more a narrative about survival and subsistence, than growth and glory-the misconceptions and perceptions of entrepreneurship.He postulates that entrepreneurship is only part of the firm lifecycle, very little innovation is generated by start-up ventures, there is no common entrepreneurial type of person, no success formulas, entrepreneurs are generally risk averse, successful products do not make successful businesses, new product development rather than invention is needed.Entrepreneurship doesn't really contribute to economic growth.
Also, Entrepreneurship education in general shows concretely how cultural values, social institutions, economic policies, and legal practices interrelate to shape human behaviour.This assists in preparing students for informed citizenship because of its operational continuum (Green, 1998 as cited by Abiona and Alese, 2009).Entrepreneurship education enables students to be better equipped to cope with dynamic change.Skilled entrepreneurship students will be equipped with a set of skills that will assist them identify viable business ideas and a practical approach to entrepreneurship (Alese, 2009) Entrepreneurship is not limited to the classroom as it believes in new enterprises and the provision of constructive and practical outlet for national idealism and enthusiasm while requiring the market to be consequential.
Entrepreneurship education is often conceived as being synonymous with Vocational education whereas Vocational education portrays that man had always laboured and worked for livelihood which made it important for him to learn to work.According to Agusiobo (1973) Vocational education was seen as organized and unorganized methods of securing occupational confidence and the experience of any individual whereby he learns proficiency.UNESCO (1979) also defined Vocational education as the systematic development of the attitude, knowledge and skill pattern required by an individual to perform employment task or tasks.
Similarly, Inwang (1985) opined that Vocational education helps to fix right habits of thinking and doing in students through repetitive training carried out, giving the trainee a productive ability which enables him/her to secure employment.A cursory look at the above definitions indicates that vocational education is more of skill development and enhancement whereas entrepreneurship is more than that, as it affects the individual and the society totally.
Entrepreneurship education is new venture management, business planning, growth and innovation (Gibb, 2002 as quoted by Blenker et al, 2006) According to Hunter (2012) many courses are really teaching about entrepreneurship rather than teaching entrepreneurship.He affirms that many courses provided in developing countries still have a small business management core assisted through specific entrepreneurship textbooks evolved over the last 15 to 20 years.
Entrepreneurship itself has diversification covering so many activities, having certain specific requirements and sets of tacit knowledge needed within different industries.Any general course on entrepreneurship, struggles to cover more than a few different activities thereby, becoming marginally relevant to the specific needs of students.
It is very difficult to teach tacit knowledge through traditional classroom formats.Many instructors have no entrepreneurship experience.Competitions, entrepreneurship weeks, incubators revolving around entrepreneurship education may give wrong impressions about the real challenges and potential hardships of entrepreneurship.However, focus is required in teaching entrepreneurship in developing economies as literature in developing countries is primarily US based which reflects the need for a post industrial society rather than a developing economy.The curriculums in developing countries are based on US textbooks despite, the availability of abundant local needs.Examinations are also focused on testing memory and intelligence where the potential entrepreneur really needs creativity.
Entrepreneurship is contextual, situational, and indeed a cultural pursuit.These variables will affect results.Higher education and vocational institutions in developing countries should reflect on their needs, contexts and situations and develop curriculum based on these and disseminate new knowledge through action and participatory action research programmes to their people.
At this juncture, it is important to discuss the role of the university teacher of entrepreneurship education.According to Blenker et al (2006) teaching entrepreneurship requires different roles from traditional teaching that entails passing the "right" knowledge to students and later evaluating.It requires flexibility and classroom/ team work.Fiet (2000) opines that the teacher defines the curriculum but during the process he functions as a coach rather than evaluating students' performance.However, Blenket et al (2006) believe that this role is not ground breaking enough as it is the responsibility of the teacher to see that students learn "the right things" while keeping a close eye on the students learning processes.
Also, Clark (1998) posits that it is difficult for the teacher to get used to new roles in the teaching processes and at the same time reactions of the new environment can be less than forth coming.Again, Laukkanen (2000) proposes a more drastic action requiring the university to assist in establishing new enterprises, meaning teachers playing a much more proactive role teaching to new types of practical and risky tasks.This offers unique learning opportunities although, not conducive to academic climate but studies also indicate that teachers took new roles such as role modeling, consultancy and advisers which university teachers are not expected to play (Garavan et al. 1994 as quoted by Blenker et al 2006).They are also of the opinion that success in the discussion above will be determined if the attitude and commitment required are present among the teachers and administrators involved and the freedom to operate in accordance with the suggestions on the internal life in an entrepreneurial culture.What about the university teacher in the entrepreneurial world?According to Bouchikhi (2003) the teacher is at the centre between three circles of interest groups working in isolation in their respective circles-the entrepreneurs, the politician and the academia in which the university teacher is a member.
The entrepreneurship teacher has difficulty in establishing close contact with any of these groups.He is trying to bridge the three circles but not belonging nor recognized by any of the group.Bouchikhi (2003) asserts that the teacher is not recognized by the entrepreneurs as one of 'us' neither are the consultants interested in entrepreneurship, as such nor do the venture capitalists understand less about research while politicians do not believe that results cannot be achieved overnight, having unrealistically short time horizon for the initiatives they launch (Blenker et al 2006).Academic tries to distance itself from the part of entrepreneurship, trying to venture outside the university's frames and norm for right and proper research fields (Blenker et al 2006).It is important to note that the entrepreneurship Instructor must be ready to combine several roles as stressed by Blenker et al (2006)-"an obstetrician" that is a person ready to keep core issues of the profession in focus, "trader" who creates value for his customers by transferring information, ideas and practices across spheres that could benefit from one another, but tend to overlook each other.And the "chameleon", someone to talk to a broad range of people in many "languages" and adapt to many cultures without losing his own identity.
It is noteworthy that Entrepreneurship education is not peculiar to Nigeria but very new as a course of study in Nigerian universities.It is expected to serve as palliative to rising unemployment situation which has also led to poverty increase in the country.AAUA teaches entrepreneurship education to all students irrespective of their course of study but it is more theoretical than practical.It is mandatory for students to take objective tests of all courses registered for in entrepreneurship at the end of each semester.The country's premier university-University of Ibadan also has Entrepreneurship education as a core course in its General Studies Unit with similar objective tests at the end of the semester.
It is worthy of mention that recently AAUA is partnering the Ondo State Government on Skill Enhancement Programme.Thirty-five skill trades curricula are to be developed in which graduates could be trained to become entrepreneurs rather than seeking non-existent white collar jobs (Olatubura, 2013).Towards achieving this, the university has also put in place the Graduate Enhancement Scheme which hopes to embark on printing technology, provision of 100 hectare of land for cassava and maize cultivation, partnership with NIEPA and UNIDO on ICT based entrepreneurship training, train the trainer resource person and others.
This study therefore, determines how Entrepreneurship education is perceived among female and male students of AAUA including their instructors.Is entrepreneurship education being learnt and taught accordingly?What are the challenges being faced during the learning/teaching process.

Statement of the Problem
Nigeria diffused the culture of her colonizers through her philosophy of education, rather than attending to her local needs and contexts.Despite, the positive impact that formal education brought, unemployment has continued to rise among her teeming graduates of tertiary institutions.Although, efforts are being made to stem unemployment among these graduates, one of which was the introduction of Entrepreneurship education in Nigerian Universities and tertiary institutions but this seems to be misunderstood by students, instructors and the concerned authorities.Hence, this study sought to determine the perception of Entrepreneurship education in Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko.

I.
Is Entrepreneurship Education synonymous with Vocational Education?II.
Is Entrepreneurship Education being learnt and taught accordingly?III.
What are the challenges being faced through the learning and teaching of Entrepreneurship Education.

Methods
The population of this study was sourced from the students of Adult Education of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko Ondo State, Nigeria.The choice of these students was based on the fact that Adult Education is multidisciplinary, more of non formal in nature which suits entrepreneurship and addresses societal problems thereby, making humanity worthwhile and targeting lifelong education in particular.The students of Adult Education are good representation of Science, Social Science, Pure arts and Education itself as these are key courses offered in Adekunle Ajasin University.However, 181 Students of 2012/2013 Session in 200 level-400 level were chosen for the study out of 235 students.100 level students (54) were excluded from the study because the researcher believed that these students are yet to have indepth information on Entrepreneurship education since they have just been admitted into the university.The 200 level -400 level students that were used for the study consist of 94 females and 87 males.
Qualitative method was used to collect information for the study.Both Focus Group Discussion and Key Informant Interview were employed in the study.The choice of focus group discussion in eliciting information from the students was because of its strength in eliciting information on attitudes and beliefs which may not be well captured in a survey.While key information was needed from the instructors and administrative staff of the unit.
The Discussion and Interview guides covered varying questions on participants' perception of entrepreneurship, the learning and teaching style.Twelve sessions of Focus Group Discussions comprising of 11 -14 participants in which the male and female students were grouped differently were held with the students while the instructors and administrative staff were interviewed singly.The discussions were conducted by the researcher, during which notes were taken.
Image 2: Female Respondents During FGD Image 3: Male Respondents During FGD Data from the discussion were analyzed using chi-square.The choice of chi-square was informed by the focus of the study which was to elicit information on attitude and beliefs of participants on the identified factors.

Result and Discussion of Findings
The following themes emerged from the Focus Group Discussion sessions and Key informant Interviews.
-Perception of Entrepreneurship education -Perception of Vocational education -Structure and framework involved in the teaching/learning of Entrepreneurship education -Skills taught -Challenges encountered in the teaching/learning of courses in Entrepreneurship education.Source: Field Survey 2013 The largest number of submission (58) from five groups of both the female and male students in 200 level believed that entrepreneurship education is synonymous with vocational education.They opined thus: The reason for the 200 level students perceiving entrepreneurship as being synonymous with vocational education may not be unconnected with the fact that they are yet to be well grounded in the course.Majority of students in 300 and 400 level comprising of both male and female believe that entrepreneurship is different from vocational education.Some of the groups said: Entrepreneurship is an opportunity to discover oneself, the available resources in the environment and making good use or creating value out of these resources FGD /AAUA 400 level Students April 04, 2013.

Others also said that:
Entrepreneurship is the ability to reflect your idea within the community to do business, to be able to do many things at the same time and the bedrock of all business.FGD /AAUA 400 level Students April 13, 2013 R Q 1: Is Entrepreneurship education synonymous with Vocational education?H O 1: Entrepreneurship education, is not synonymous with vocational education Table 3 shows that the X 2 cal value of 12.0 is greater than the X 2 tab value of 8.34 (df =; x 0.05).This implies that entrepreneurship education is not synonymous with vocational education.
Both female and male students also hold the opinion that entrepreneurship education is not synonymous with vocational education.
On whether Entrepreneurship education is being learnt and taught accordingly?Majority of the students in all levels -200 -400 (143) said, they are taught entrepreneurship education like vocational education, the classes are both theoretical and practical but more of theory.The largest number (141) of submissions from the groups acknowledged the difficulties during theory and practical classes due to space.The courses that have the highest subscription are catering services and confectionaries, Fruit juice and non-alcoholic drinks, Textiles and Fashion designing.It is also important to note that the representation of females in these courses is very high.Computer training also attracts all the students but there is inadequacy of materials to teach and learn the skill.The 400 level students strongly admitted that entrepreneurship courses are taught like vocational courses which are against what they read about entrepreneurship.They are also aversed to the foreign curriculum being used, compulsion on the registration of the courses, the end of the semester objective examination and a compulsory pass before graduation.R Q 2: Is entrepreneurship education being learnt and taught accordingly?H O 2: Entrepreneurship education is not learnt and taught accordingly.The table reveals that X 2 cal 1.56 is greater than X 2 tab 8.34 at 0.05 level of significance.This implies that entrepreneurship education is not being learnt and taught accordingly.
What are the challenges being faced through the teaching and learning of Entrepreneurship education?An interview granted by the instructors (Key Informant Interview) also confirms entrepreneurship being more theoretical than practical and treated like vocational education.They also confirmed the problem of space and time ....Any general course on entrepreneurship would struggle to cover more than a few different activities and thus be only marginally relevant to the specific needs of students.(Hunter, 2012 p. 27) He argued that students come from range of diverse backgrounds and different levels of experience like these research participants which is not generally catered for in Entrepreneurship education.
These also agree with Laukkanen(2000) that a more drastic action is expected from the university and the teachers playing a much proactive role in modeling, consultancy and advisers.Also, Blenker et al (2006) reiterates that teaching entrepreneurial culture at a realizable height requires commitment, flexibility and team work on the part of instructors and administrative involved.

Conclusion
There is no doubt that Entrepreneurship education is expected to play crucial role in creating job opportunities and reducing unemployment among the teeming population of graduates of tertiary/university institutions in Nigeria.However, a better understanding and practice of Entrepreneurship education is very important among instructors, the university administration, the students and the government if a positive impact will be felt in the society.This understanding will affect the design of curriculum; the textbooks to be used, the methodology and infrastructures needed otherwise, the effect will be tangential and turn a white elephant project just as most of the poverty reduction strategies in the country have turned.
The present situation is that, students learn Entrepreneurship education as Vocational education and a sort of coercion in which failure in the courses result in non graduation.

Recommendations
Despite the present inadequacy of the state of Entrepreneurship education in the university, its contributions to unemployment reduction cannot be overemphasized in the society.It therefore, becomes pertinent to make the following recommendations.
First, the designing of the curriculum should reflect local and specific needs of the students; this will shape good local content in textbooks rather than using foreign textbooks which is inimical to local development, although foreign materials could be adapted where desirable.
Because of the newness and nature of entrepreneurship, action and participatory action research should be on from time to time to develop the instructors, contexts, situations and local needs in the developments of curriculums.
Traditional classroom formats are no good methodology for teaching entrepreneurship education instead, action methods and experimental learning should be used by instructors.Instructors should also avoid testing memory and intelligence in examinations; rather they should focus on creativity of the potential entrepreneurs.
Based on the fact that readiness to learning is very essential to success, students should not be coerced into Entrepreneurship education as such compulsion in the form of fail in the entrepreneurship course means no graduation should be avoided.The administration and government should exhibit the required commitment towards funding and putting necessary infrastructure in place in the university.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Illustrating the sensitive role of the university instructor

Image 4 :
An Instructor Admiring Students During a Practical Class.

Table 1 :
Demographic characteristic of participants

Table 2 :
Focus Group Discussion Schedule of the Study

Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) 200 Level Students March 27, 2013.
Entrepreneurship and vocational education are synonymous.Entrepreneurship helps one to acquire skills.Vocational education is about local skills like carving, tailoring while entrepreneurship teaches modern skills FGD/

Table 3 :
Chi-Square Summary Testing if entrepreneurship education is synonymous with vocational education

Table 4 :
Is entrepreneurship education being learnt and taught accordingly?