THE ROLE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION IN THE REDUCTION OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

The study investigated the role of Business education on unemployment reduction in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Five research questions were raised to guide the study. The population of the study comprised of all 400 level students in the Department of Vocational and Technical Education in the 2018/2019 academic session with a total number of 24 students while there was no sample as the sampling size was manageable. The descriptive survey study was adopted for the study. A structured questionnaire tagged ‘The Role of Business education in the Reduction of Unemployment Questionnaire (BEERUQ) was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by the researchers; supervisor as well as two other supervisors in the Department of Vocational and Technical Education, University of Benin. The test re-test reliability method was adopted by the study to ascertain the consistency of the research instrument which yielded a coefficient of 0.75. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation The study concluded that Business education equips recipients with the requisite skills for them to be self -reliant thereby enhancing their standard of living. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended amongst others that government should increase its annual budgetary allocation to facilitate the effective delivery of Business education thereby impacting students with the requisite skills for self- reliance, training and re-training of Business educators to improve their level of performance through regular and periodic seminars to impact residents with the requisite skills for selfreliance to mention but a few.