CHALLENGES OF BUSINESS EDUCATION FOR PREPARING STUDENTS FOR GLOBAL COMPETITION IN NIGERIAN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The study was aimed to determine the challenges of business education in preparing students for global competition in Nigerian tertiary institutions. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The theory of learning by Dekeyser was used. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. A total of 186 business educators in 15 tertiary institutions in South-East, Nigerian made up the population of the study. No sample was taken, as the population size was manageable. A structured 16-item validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was ensured using pilot test, which was analyzed using Cronbach alpha and its yielded reliability co-efficient of 0.86. A total of 186 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the respondents, 183 copies were returned by the respondents, and were used for data analysis. Data related to the research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that respondents agreed with all the mentioned challenges of business education for preparing students and the possibilities of overcoming the challenges for global competition in Nigerian tertiary institutions as it will help in promoting national development. The study revealed that business educators in universities did not differ significantly from business educators in colleges of education on the challenges and possibilities of overcoming the challenges for preparing students for global competition in Nigeria tertiary institutions in South-East. It was concluded that business education are face with a lot of challenges for preparing students, and the possibilities of overcoming these challenges were also treated which would help in preparing students for global competition and promoting national development. It was recommended, among others, that government and other major stakeholders should focus their attention and invest their resources on business education so as to help address the challenges of business education for preparing students for global competition particularly at the tertiary level.

Key words: Challenges, business education, business education students and global competition in Nigeria, tertiary institutions