GLOBALIZATION THROUGH BUSINESS EDUCATION IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

The study assessed the challenges and opportunities for Information and Communication Technology in the globalization of the tertiary business education programme in Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study. Descriptive survey research method was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 122 business education lecturers in Delta State tertiary institutions. Instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire validated by three experts in education. The Cronbach alpha coefficient for the three clusters yielded co-efficient values of 0.80 and 0.84 for section B and C respectively with over-all co-coefficient value of 0.82 which indicated that the instrument was deemed reliable for the study. The data collected from the respondents were analyzed using mean, standard deviation. t-test used for hypotheses. Finding of the study revealed that high costs of ICT hardware, lack of funds to acquire ICT tools, incessant electric power supply, lack of capacity to manage ICT integration in the business education programme and poor attitude of lecturers towards the use of ICT for teaching among others are the challenges inhibiting the integration of ICT for globalization of business education programme in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Findings also revealed that opportunities for ICT integration for globalization through business education programme in tertiary institutions in Nigeria are ICT improves the efficiency and effectiveness of business educators, facilitates information exchange among business educators nationally and globally, among others. The onus is for policy makers and administrators of the programme to adopt strategies for mitigating the challenges hampering the integration of ICT in the tertiary business education programme. It was recommended that Government in conjunction with administrators of business education programme should engage in public private partnership initiatives in the area of funding, capacity building, e.t.c for the integration of ICT in the business education programme.

Keywords: Globalization, Business Education, Tertiary Institutions, Information and Communication Technology