FUNDING BUSINESS EDUCATION PROGRAMME IN SOUTH-EAST UNIVERSITIES FOR PROMOTING SKILLS ACQUISITION

Abstract

The study sought to ascertain the funding of business education programme of universities in South East, Nigeria for promoting skills acquisition. The study employed the survey research design. Three research questions wereraised and three null hypotheses were formulated that guided the study. The population of the study comprised all the eighty-five (85) business educators in universities in South East, Nigeria hence census sampling technique was used. The instrument was validated by experts in business education and measurement and evaluation from Enugu State University of Technology, Enugu.  Cronbach alpha was used to ascertain the reliability of the instrument with coefficient of 0.83. A four- point response type of Strongly Agreed, Agreed, Disagreed and Strongly Disagreed with 22 items were used. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while t-test was used to test the hypotheses. Findings of the study revealed that business educators agreed that governmental integrative, institutional and non-governmental strategies are all funding strategies for business education programme of universities in South East, Nigeria for promoting skills acquisition. The findings further showed no significant difference in the mean ratings of male and female business educators on government integrative funding strategies, institutional funding strategies and non-governmental organizations funding strategies for promoting skills acquisition in public universities in the South East, Nigeria. The study concluded that the use of government integrative funding strategies, institutional funding strategies and non-governmental funding strategies in business education instructional delivery is of vital importance in equipping its graduates with the current skills required in the modern business world for sustainable development. It was recommended that government should budget more funds and also explore public-private partnership in funding business education programme in Nigerian universities, institution administrators and heads of business education departments should look inwards on how to internally-generate revenue to fund Business education. External aids should be sought from non-governmental organizations to assist in funding business education programme. These will enable business education programme to produce skillful quality graduates that can fit into the world of work and be self-reliant so as to contribute their quota in national development.

Keywords:Funding, Strategies, Business Education, Skills Acquisition, Universities.