The study was carried out to determine the entrepreneurial skill needs required by secretarial education graduates of college of education for self sustainability in Enugu State. Four research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a descriptive research design that made use of 40 item structured questionnaire. The population for the study was 238 respondents. The questionnaire was face-validated by three experts. Cronbach Alpha method was used to determine the reliability of the items and a coefficient of 0.75 was obtained. The questionnaire was administered on 238 respondents by the researchers with the help of three research assistants trained by the researchers. Two hundred and thirty-eight copies of the questionnaire were returned and considered valid. The analysis was done using mean for research questions and t-test statistic for the hypotheses. The findings revealed that the 40 entrepreneurial skill needs were required by the graduates for self sustainability. It therefore was recommended among others that secretarial education graduates should be encouraged to acquaint themselves with all the relevant entrepreneurial skills that will enable them to be self sustained in the society.
The higher educational programmes in Nigeria had fallen short of expectations, and as a result, many of the graduates of these institutions lack basic skills required by the labour market. The short fall in required basic skills has also resulted in mass unemployment among the graduates. The pace in technological changes in the field of business and education has affected the labour market. The educational programmes at all levels should be made relevant to provide the graduates with the needed entrepreneurial skill needs that should give adequate attention to entrepreneurial development in the country.
To be able to teach entrepreneurship education, the teachers themselves, especially the secretarial education programme of colleges of education should be well equipped with entrepreneurial skills to enable them develop an entrepreneurial orientation necessary for employability.
The secretarial education is a course of study offered in colleges of education, that equips its graduates with practical, professional and entrepreneurial skills. Secretarial education is also an aspect of vocational business education programme that gives training and imparts necessary skills that will provide the recipients with the intellectual and professional background, adequate for their assignment and makes the recipients adaptable to changing situations in the economy. This is in line with the National Policy on Education [
A skill is any established habit of performing a task in a way that is acceptable by a worker in his specializa- tion. It is the ability to use one’s knowledge effectively and readily in performing an act or a habit of doing a particular task competently [
Anyakoha [
The purpose of this study was to determine the entrepreneurial skills needed by secretarial education gra- duates for self sustainability in Enugu State. Specifically, the study sought to:
· determine the managerial skill needs required by secretarial education graduates for self sustainability;
· determine the technical skill needs required by secretarial education graduates for self sustainability;
· determine the marketing skill needs required for self sustainability;
· determine the ICT skills required by secretarial education graduates for self sustainability.
The following research questions were answered by the study.
1) What are the managerial skill needs required by secretarial education graduates for self sustainability?
2) What are the technical skill needs required by secretarial education graduates for self sustainability?
3) What are the marketing skill needs required by secretarial education graduates for self sustainability?
4) What are the ICT skill needs required by secretarial education graduates for self sustainability in Enugu State?
The following null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance.
Ho1: There is no significant difference in the mean responses of lecturers and students on managerial skill needs required by secretarial education graduates for self sustainability.
Ho2: There is no significant difference in the mean responses of lecturers and students on the technical skill needs required by secretarial education graduates for self sustainability in Enugu State.
A descriptive research design was adopted for this study. A descriptive survey design is concerned with speci- fying the properties of educational and other phenomena [
The study was carried out in Enugu State. The state has three colleges of education offering secretarial educa- tion programme, namely Enugu State College of Education (Technical) College of Ecumenical Education, Enu- gu and Federal College of Education Eha Amafu. The choice of the state for this study was necessitated by the adequate number of NCE secretarial education lecturers and students who constituted the respondent for the study and also the growing number of unemployed NCE secretarial graduates who will benefit immensely from the finding of the study.
The population for the study was 238 respondents, made up of 54 business education lecturers and 184 second year students offering secretarial education programme for 2012/13 academic session in Enugu State. The choice of lecturers was because the lecturers were believed to be knowledgeable enough in this field while the students would make use of the skills for lifelong sustainability.
The questionnaire was the instrument used for eliciting responses from the respondents. The questionnaire was divided into four sections: A, B, C and D, which consisted of 40 generated items. Section A sought infor- mation on managerial skill needs required for self sustainability of secretarial education graduates. Section B was on technical skill needs, Section C on marketing skills while Section D delved on ICT skills for self sustai- nability. The instrument utilized a five points rating scale of very highly required (VHR) 5 points, highly re- quired (HR) 4 points, slightly required (SR) 3 points, fairly required (FR) 2 points and not required (NR) 1 point. The class boundary limit for interpreting the results was as follows: very highly required (4.5 - 5.00), highly re- quired (3.5 - 4.49), slightly required (2.5 - 3.49) fairly required (1.5 - 2.49) and not required (0.05 - 1.49). The instrument was face validated by three experts in entrepreneurial education, two from the Department of Voca- tional Teacher Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and one from Federal College of Education Eha Amufu, Enugu State. The comments and corrections were effected and used for the final development of the instrument. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined using test retest with the use of Cronbach Alpha me- thod, which yielded a coefficient of 0.84 showing that the instrument was reliable for the study.
All the 238 copies of the questionnaire were administered by the researchers with the help of three researcher assistants, who helped to collect on the spot the completed questionnaire to ensure a high percentage return rate of the questionnaire.
The data collected were collated and analysed using mean to answer the research questions while t-test was used test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. If the calculated t-value was greater than the table value for the given degree of freedom (df) the null hypothesis was regarded as significant otherwise not signifi- cant.
The results are presented in tables in accordance with the research questions and hypotheses.
What are the managerial skill needs required by secretarial education graduates for self sustainability in Enugu State?
The data presented in
What are the technical skill needs required by secretarial education graduates for self-sustainability?
The data presented in
What are the marketing skill needs required by secretarial education graduates for self-sustainability?
The responses from the respondents in
What are the ICT skill needs required by Secretarial Education Graduates for Self-Sustainability?
The data presented in
S/N | Managerial Skills | Lecturers n = 54 | Students n = 154 | t-cal | Remark | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SD1 | SD1 | ||||||||
1 | Adapting basic steps in setting up business | 4.37 | 4.49 | 0.88 | 4.25 | 0.70 | 0.057 | NS | |
2 | Planning and co-ordinating business resources | 4.39 | 4.50 | 0.77 | 4.28 | 0.86 | 0.89 | NS | |
3 | Taking decisions as at when due | 4.18 | 4.38 | 0.72 | 3.99 | 1.04 | 1.41 | NS | |
4 | Bringing in innovative ideas and changes in the business | 3.89 | 3.99 | 1.16 | 3.79 | 1.17 | 1.02 | NS | |
5 | Able to receive and attend to relevant | 4.19 | 4.00 | 0.98 | 4.39 | 0.91 | 0.75 | NS | |
6 | Knowledge of human relations and communicative ability | 4.27 | 4.29 | 0.92 | 4.24 | 0.74 | 1.15 | NS | |
7 | Setting up appropriate business plans | 4.24 | 4.15 | 0.99 | 4.32 | 0.65 | −0.9 | NS | |
8 | Able to determine risks and risk management | 4.43 | 4.47 | 0.92 | 4.92 | 4.39 | 0.91 | NS | |
9 | Able to create, maintain and sustain customers | 3.83 | 3.87 | 1.38 | 3.78 | 1.17 | 0.78 | NS | |
10 | Able to appraise employees performance | 4.13 | 4.43 | 0.85 | 3.52 | 1.01 | 1.02 | NS | |
S/N | Technical Skills | Lecturers n = 54 | Students n = 154 | t-cal | Remark | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SD1 | SD1 | ||||||||
1 | Operate office machines | 3.99 | 4.10 | 0.90 | 3.87 | 0.81 | 0.44 | NS | |
2 | Help others to learn needed skills and knowledge | 4.42 | 4.48 | 0.80 | 4.35 | 0.60 | 1.37 | NS | |
3 | Identify training needs and job information to help others | 4.41 | 4.45 | 0.92 | 4.37 | 0.99 | 0.50 | NS | |
4 | Demonstrate understanding and adaptability of changes | 4.18 | 4.09 | 0.98 | 4.27 | 0.74 | 1.33 | NS | |
5 | Exhibit self-confidence to select appropriate reproduction processes in collating/binding documents. | 4.37 | 4.38 | 0.72 | 4.35 | 0.60 | 0.69 | NS | |
6 | Proof-reading and preparing mailable documents. | 4.45 | 4.47 | 0.92 | 4.42 | 0.78 | 0.62 | NS | |
7 | Generate innovative ideas and new ways to disseminate information | 4.10 | 4.25 | 0.91 | 3.95 | 1.07 | 0.94 | NS | |
8 | Use different word processing packages/software | 3.89 | 3.79 | 1.16 | 3.98 | 1.18 | 0.53 | NS | |
9 | Manage materials and facility resources | 4.43 | 4.42 | 0.99 | 4.43 | 067 | 0.70 | NS | |
10 | Communicate ideas, thoughts, information and messages in form of letters, reports manuals etc. | 4.54 | 4.50 | 0.77 | 4.18 | 0.92 | 0.69 | NS | |
S/N | Marketing Skills | Lecturers n = 54 | Students n = 154 | Remark | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SD1 | SD1 | ||||||
1 | Protect company name and resources from hackers | 4.06 | 4.03 | 0.98 | 4.00 | 0.75 | HR |
2 | Segmenting the market according to customers’ needs | 4.36 | 4.72 | 0.71 | 4.00 | 0.75 | HR |
3 | Making goods and services available at the right place, price and with right communication | 4.09 | 4.25 | 0.75 | 3.92 | 0.72 | HR |
4 | Identify the new trends in marketing environments | 3.94 | 3.91 | 1.06 | 3.96 | 0.71 | HR |
5 | Identify the potential partners | 3.62 | 3.71 | 0.84 | 3.53 | 0.72 | HR |
6 | Using social networking and direct marketing to market business products | 4.00 | 4.00 | 0.98 | 4.00 | 0.75 | HR |
7 | Forecasting, estimation and marketing and information research | 4.34 | 4.75 | 0.75 | 3.92 | 0.72 | HR |
8 | Determine and interpret competitors strength and weaknesses | 4.00 | 4.04 | 1.04 | 3.96 | 0.70 | HR |
9 | Knowledge of capturing and retaining customers | 3.79 | 3.98 | 1.02 | 3.60 | 0.96 | HR |
10 | Knowledge of seasonal fluctuations of goods in the market | 3.84 | 389 | 1.15 | 3.79 | 1.04 | HR |
Grand mean | 400 | 0.79 |
The findings revealed that forty (40) entrepreneurial skill needs items for self sustainability by secretarial educa- tion graduates were highly required for them to function effectively in the business enterprises in Enugu State. The result of this study agreed with the findings of Meredith, Nelson and Neck [
The findings in
S/N | ICT Skill Requirement | Lecturers n = 54 | Students n = 154 | Remark | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SD1 | SD1 | ||||||
1 | Operate the computer | 3.94 | 3.96 | 0.94 | 3.91 | 1.02 | HR |
2 | Create, format, save and print documents | 4.27 | 4.27 | 0.71 | 4.27 | 0.74 | HR |
3 | Create a website | 4.29 | 4.61 | 0.75 | 3.96 | 0.70 | HR |
4 | Access the internet through the use of mobile phones/telephone | 3.81 | 3.91 | 1.06 | 3.71 | 1.28 | HR |
5 | Use scanning machines to send messages | 3.97 | 3.96 | 0.92 | 3.97 | 1.06 | HR |
6 | Produce text documents | 3.37 | 3.43 | 1.61 | 3.31 | 1.05 | HR |
7 | Browse and download information from the internet | 4.33 | 4.00 | 0.77 | 4.66 | 0.66 | HR |
8 | Conference calls/video conferencing for staff meetings | 3.35 | 3.60 | 1.45 | 3.10 | 1.17 | SR |
9 | Database Microsoft access for storage and administration of staff data | 3.94 | 3.91 | 1.06 | 3.96 | 0.74 | HR |
10 | Spreadsheets like-Microsoft excel to manage the company’s budget | 3.59 | 3.97 | 1.06 | 3.20 | 1.20 | HR |
Cluster grand mean | 3.89 |
The result of the hypothesis tested showed that there was no significant difference in the mean rating of the res- ponses of the lecturers and students on managerial skills required for self sustainability by secretariat education graduates.
The findings of the study in
Data presented in
The findings on ICT skills in
Based on the findings of this study, it could be concluded that entrepreneurial skills are required for effective business operation. Lack or absence of these skills affects graduates in embarking on any business venture. The entrepreneurial skills would enable the graduates to handle all types of documents for their customers and the- reby meet their customers’ satisfaction successfully. The skills could serve both as operational guidelines for those in the business as well as training package for new entrants. The study has provided information on entrepreneurship skills that are required for sustainable business operation. Therefore, the secretarial education gra- duates need to combine all the skills identified or listed therein for effective business management.
Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made:
1) Secretarial education graduates should endeavour to acquire themselves with all the relevant skills neces- sary for them to create, and maintain their customers’ needs;
2) The findings of this study should also be made available to skills acquisition centres as a training manual;
3) It is recommended that all those who are not ICT compliant should acquire the skills to be relevant in the society.