Entrepreneurship Education Impact on Self-employment Intention: Case of University Students in Ethiopia

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is learned as a course in most universities or colleges across the globe, and Ethiopia is not an exceptional. It is taught to provide students an entrepreneurial skills and knowledge so that they could identify business opportunities, find and gather resources and set up a business to mention a few. However, the impact entrepreneurship education has on university students’ self-employment intention been unclear. The study targeted 2016 graduating class students of Mettu University and Jimma University, Faculty/College of Engineering and Technology, and Business and Economics. To address the issue, primary data were collected from both entrepreneurship students (students who had taken entrepreneurship course- 316 students) and non-entrepreneurship students (students who did not yet take the course-185 students). Having collected data from 501 students, comparison between entrepreneurship and non-entrepreneurship students concerning attitudes towards self-employment, perceived behavior control and self-employment intention were done. In addition, using multiple regressions, impact of attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavior control on self-employment intention also done. Results indicated that participating in an entrepreneurship course or education influence university students’ attitude towards self-employment and self-employment intention. But, it has failed to have an effect on the students’ entrepreneurial skill aspects, indicating that skill components of the entrepreneurship course need to be emphasized in Ethiopian higher learning institutions in order to enable students transform their business idea into reality. Thus, entrepreneurship curriculum needs to be reviewed, and the course should be taught by professionals, university-industry linkage initiatives should be given greater attention and experienced entrepreneurs should be invited to class or workshop in order to impart their experiences to students.