NUC calls for improved entrepreneurship education for varsity students
National Universities Commission, NUC has hinted that the development of the Entrepreneurship Education Programme for university students in Nigeria might be one of the solutions to tackling the rising rate of youth unemployment in the country.
Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed while speaking at a two-day brainstorming session with the Directors of Entrepreneurship Centers of Nigeria Universities, in partnership with the British Council, stated that the challenges of graduate unemployment in Nigeria could be substantially tackled if Nigerian universities give priority to the development of entrepreneurship education program.
Professor Rasheed revealed that entrepreneurship education in the Nigerian University System was designed to help prepare students to be fit for purpose in the labour market, adding that the program can deliver the required momentum.
He also emphasized the need to embed entrepreneurship education into the curriculum of all programs taught in Nigerian Universities, saying that it had the potential of helping students to unlock their hidden potential in identifying skills that can prepare them for the labour market.
Professor Rasheed also noted that the entrepreneurship education program would be domiciled in the office of the Vice Chancellor for effective functioning.
“This is germane if the university system must attain the enviable height in entrepreneurship. On the strength of this, the meeting had resolved that the entrepreneurship directorate should be domiciled in the office of the Vice Chancellor to foster its effective supervision” he said.
Also delivering his presentation, Acting Director of NUC Directorate of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship, DSDE Mallam Ashafa Ladan said the establishment of DSDE became imperative following the discovery that depressed quality of graduates, poor skills development and entrepreneurial challenges were some of the issues facing university system in Nigeria.
Ladan noted that the cardinal objective of the Directorate is to partner with stakeholders to support skills development and entrepreneurship for Nigerian universities by creating a network of interactions towards creativity and innovation for national development in the entrepreneurial space.
