Reinvigorating Business Education Curriculum for Promotion of Blue Collar Jobs among Graduates of Business Education in South East States, Nigeria
Abstract
The incidence of high unemployment rate among business education graduates in search of limited available white collar jobs has attracted concern over the viability of business education curriculum by researchers. This study aims at determining the strategies for the reinvigoration of business education curriculum for the promotion of blue collar jobs among graduates of Business Education in Federal Universities in South East States Nigeria. To achieve this objective, two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population for the study was 44 business education lecturers from the four Federal Universities that offer Business Education programme in South East States. The purposive sampling technique was used to select the entire population. Instrument for data collection was the researchers’ structured questionnaire titled, ‘Business Education Curriculum and Promotion of Blue collar Jobs’ (BECPCJ). The instrument was face validated by three experts, while a reliability coefficient value of 0.79 was obtained using the Cronbach Alpha Statistical Tool. Data were analysed using the mean and standard deviation for research questions, while the one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings among others revealed that integration of liberal learning to business practices, inclusion of mechanisms for identification of viable business opportunities and inclusion of business plan development were some of the strategies for reinvigorating business education contents. Furthermore, applications of online learning for practical exhibitions and SWOT analysis to business practices were some of the strategies required for reinvigorating business education curriculum delivery. Based on the findings, recommendations were made among which was the involvement of various policy makers in curriculum development.
