Entrepreneurship Education and Entrepreneurial Intention of University Undergraduate Students in Benue State Nigeria

This study examined the effect of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention of university undergraduate students in Benue State, Nigeria. The study specifically examined the effect of entrepreneurship education on start-up intention and innovation intention among university undergraduate students in Benue State, Nigeria. The adopted the cross-sectional survey design involving university undergraduates in three universities in Benue State. The population of the study comprised of 957 final year students from Faculty of Management Sciences from JS Tarka University Makurdi (224), Benue State University Makurdi (631) and University of Mkar, Mkar (102). Applying Taro Yamene's formula, a sample size of 282 was realized. The study employed questionnaire as the major instrument for data collection. The items on the questionnaire were all measured on a 5-point scale ranging from 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree. Result of pilot study showed that the reliability for each of the constructs was above 0.70. Simple linear regression analysis was used in testing the data gathered from the survey. Analysis was done with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 23). Findings revealed that entrepreneurship education has significant positive effect on start-up intention and innovation intention of university undergraduate students in Benue State, Nigeria. The study concludes that university undergraduate students' intentions toward entrepreneurship can be enhanced using entrepreneurship education. This study is an initial call to elaborate an appropriate model of entrepreneurship education in universities in Benue State that will present a more practical and effective entrepreneurship education