ABSTRACT
The study determined the influence of entrepreneurial skills in reducing unemployment among textile art students specifically at the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State. Five research questions were raised to guide the study and one hypothesis was formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population of this study comprised 52 (fifty-two) Fine and applied art education students in the Department of Vocational and Technical Education at the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo state. The sample size of this study was made up of 52 (fifty-two) fine and applied art education students, in the Department of Vocational and Technical Education in the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo state. As a result, the manageable size of the entire population was used as the sample, hence a census. The instrument used for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire, titled: “Influence of Entrepreneurial Skills in Reducing Unemployment Among Textile Art Students” (ESRUTAS). The questionnaire was segmented into two sections A and B. Section A measured the demographic variable of the respondent such as gender, level, and institution, while section B, comprised twenty-Five (25) item statements which were drawn from the research questions. The instrument for data collection was subjected to face validation by the research supervisor, and two other experts, one in Fine and Applied Art education and the other Department of Vocational and Technical Education, Faculty of Education, University of Benin, Benin city, Edo state. To establish the reliability of the instrument, copies of the instrument were administered to the twenty (20) Fine and applied art undergraduate students from Ambrose Alli University who were not part of the study population. Thereafter Cronbach alpha statistical tool was used to ascertain consistency. It yielded an alpha value of 0.71 which indicated the instrument was considered reliable. The data collected from the respondent were analyzed using mean (▁x), Standard deviation (SD) and two sample independent t-tests using statistical packages for social science (SPSS). The findings generally showed that the entrepreneurial skills significantly help in reducing unemployment among textile art students. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that the entrepreneurial skills significantly help in reducing unemployment among textile art students specifically at the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State. This simply means for textile students to be readily employable either in the paid employment or self-employed industry, they need to be equipped with diverse entrepreneurial skills that will consequently give them a competitive edge among their equals in the labor market.
