Entrepreneurship Education and Students’ Intention to Start Businesses: A Study of ESUT Undergraduates

Entrepreneurship education has been positioned as a strategic policy instrument for addressing graduate unemployment in Nigeria, with tertiary institutions increasingly mandated to incorporate entrepreneurship content into undergraduate curricula to stimulate business venture creation intentions. This study examines the relationship between entrepreneurship education and business start-up intentions among undergraduate students at Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). The study is anchored on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) by Ajzen, which posits that behavioural intentions are determined by attitudes towards the behaviour, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. A cross-sectional survey design was employed. The population comprised 3,200 final-year undergraduate students across six faculties at ESUT. Using stratified random sampling, a sample of 356 respondents was drawn. A validated questionnaire was used for data collection, and data were analysed through structural equation modelling and multiple regression. Findings indicate that practical business simulation exercises, exposure to successful alumni entrepreneurs, and perceived self-efficacy are the entrepreneurship education elements most powerfully predicting start-up intentions. Theoretical classroom instruction alone demonstrates minimal effect on entrepreneurial intention when not complemented by practical mentoring and incubation support. It is concluded that the quality and design of entrepreneurship education, rather than its mere presence in the curriculum, determines its impact on student entrepreneurial intention. The study recommends that ESUT strengthen its entrepreneurship curriculum by establishing a functional business incubation centre and formalising alumni mentoring networks for aspiring student entrepreneurs.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship education, start-up intention, ESUT, Theory of Planned Behaviour, graduate unemployment