ABSTRACT
The study determined the influence of entrepreneurial skill acquisition on the job opportunities of business education student in public universities in 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 represent one hundred and ninety-five (195) business education students in the Department of Vocational and Technical Education, Faculty of Education, University of Benin City. The sample of this study comprised of (98) business education students in the Department of Vocational and Technical Education in University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State. A proportionate sampling technique of 50% was used to arrive at the sample of the study.The instrument used for data collection was self-structured questionnaire, titled: The Influence of Entrepreneurial Skills on Job Opportunity of Business Education Student in Public Universities in Edo State (ESJOBESPUES).
The questionnaire was segmented into two section A and B. Section A measured the demographic variables of each respondent such as gender, level and others while section B comprised 25 item statement which was drawn from the research questions. The instrument for data collection was subjected to face validated by the researcher 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, E do state. To reliability coefficient of the instrument used was obtained by measuring the consistency of the items which was carried out using Cronbach alpha statistics. This instrument was administered once to 20 business education students from Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma who are not part of the study population and coefficient 0.83 was obtained which show the instrument was reliable. The data collected from the respondent were analyzed using mean (), Standard deviation (SD) and two sample independent t-test.
The findings generally showed that entrepreneurial skill acquisition such as critical thinking skill, marketing and sales skill, communication skill, financial literacy skill, networking and relationship skill, influence the job opportunities of business education to a high extent. From the findings of the study, it was concluded that entrepreneurial skill acquisition influenced the job opportunities of business education student in public universities in Edo State. It was recommended among others that government should ensure that various technological gadgets are provided in all government parastatals in order to facilitate and enhance the productivity and job performance of confidential secretaries.
