STUDY PACK WITH QUESTIONS ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN BUSINESS EDUCATION

STUDY PACK WITH QUESTIONS ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN BUSINESS EDUCATION

1. Write extensively on the issues affecting the attainment of business education objectives in producing self-reliant individuals 

Business education is an education for and about business. It combines both theoretical and practical knowledge. In the same vein, it exposes the recipient to the economic system of his country and equips him with lifelong skills that would enable him to make reasonable judgment as a producer, employee or consumer of goods and services.

ISSUES IN BUSINESS EDUCATION

Inadequacies in the Curriculum Content of Business Education: the content of business education curriculum has been reported as inadequate at all levels. An example of such could be seen in a study by Njoku, 1997 on tertiary institutions, Njoku (1997) on Junior Secondary Schools and Nwosu, 1999 on private secondary schools. Most of the courses do not cover the scope of knowledge and skills required for the effective preparation of business education teachers today. 

Non Relevance of the Course Content: a business education programme should include courses that would prepare the student for saleable skills, help them have an understanding of the economic system and how a business operates. It was also to be geared towards helping people to acquire knowledge, and attitude/value that would enable them function in the world they live. 

Poor Implementation of the Curriculum: today the training of business educators tends to tend to deviate from what is contained in the curriculum: Industrial training is no longer carried out the way it was originally done. Should the ITF allow students to look for places to do their industrial attachment or should the college provide them with establishments for SIWES? This is a critical question for discussion. Should the institutions visit the students to find out whether they are properly placed or should the students report back to the school on how they were placed?

Time allocation: another aspect that shows inadequacies is the time allocated to the subjects on the school timetable. In some schools, Njoku (1997) and Nwosu (1999) observed that inadequate number of hours allotted to business education subjects at all levels was considered a major issue that needed proper attention.

Selection of Subjects: at the different levels of education, the selection of subjects to be offered was to a large extent influenced by the person at the head, the time (space) available on the time-table and the competence of the teachers available in some cases. 

Current issues and debates: a lot of discussions are currently going on as to why people in related areas of business education should not be allowed to teach core business education subjects. The following arguments were put forward by some business educators: that business education is highly specialized hence should be taught by experts who possess the required skills. That no matter the residual skills acquired by non-experts in core business education, they are not qualified to teach, since they are not professionally qualified in the business teacher education. 

Qualification and quality of teachers: A Business education teacher is a person who holds a degree in business education from a recognized University or an NCE (National Certificate of Education). Holders of NCE from the recognized colleges of education in business education are competent to teach the five components of the JSS business studies programme. But what do we have today? Uncertificated business teachers that are not professionally trained and faking of non-existing professionals for the purpose of gaining accreditation status.

Facilities: facilities for teaching and learning in any programme are usually given a prominent position in the field of instructional technology. Just as Nolan said, it is not possible to achieve the objectives of a well-designed programme without adequate facilities. This means that facilities must be adequate and functional. Facilities in Business Education are as important as the business education teachers. The facilities you will need for your business education courses would depend on:

· The content of each course.

· The objective of the programme for each course

· In some cases the method of teaching.

· The level and number of students.

· Relevant - how relevant are the facilities to the course content and objectives as well as societal needs?

Conclusion

Business education remains the foundation of human resource development which provides knowledge, skills, attitudes and understanding needed to perform in the business world as a producer or consumer of economic goods and services that business offers. To ensure national transformation as being emphasized as slogan on daily basis, there is immediate need to tackle the challenges of business education programme headlong to pave way for the fulfillment of its roles in national life.

Recommendations

· Only qualified (certificated) business educators should be employed at all levels to teach in business educational programmes. While the unqualified ones already recruited should be trained especially in the use of ICTs skills needed for the programme.

· Students enrolment to the programme should be checked to ensure students with no background in the programme do not find their ways.

· Teacher-student ratio of 1:30 should be reviewed to 1:50 and strongly maintained to cope with the reality of the day.

· Computer laboratories should be established, well furnished and properly networked for teachers and students to take full advantage of shared educational resources.

· Experts in Business education should be immediately drafted into the curriculum review to ensure that the contents to be recommended and taught are in tandem to what it is obtainable in the modern day organizations practices to deliver national transformation assurances.

2. Enumerate the major contents of business education and explain any five (5)

Accounting is the systematic and comprehensive recording of financial transactions pertaining to a business, and it also refers to the process of summarizing, analyzing and reporting these transactions to oversight agencies and tax collection entities. 

Business law consists of many different areas taught in law school and business school curricula, including: Contracts, the law of Corporations and other Business Organizations, e.t.c.

Career Development is the lifelong process of managing learning, work, leisure, and transitions in order to move toward a personally determined and evolving preferred future.

Communication is simply the act of transferring information from one place or person to another. There are various categories of communication and more than one may occur at any time. The different categories of communication include: Spoken or Verbal Communication: face-to-face, telephone, radio or television and other media.

Computation can be seen as a purely physical phenomenon occurring inside a closed  physical system  called a  computer . Examples of such physical systems include  digital computers ,  mechanical computers ,  quantum computers ,  analog computers  or  wetware computers .

Economy is the large set of inter-related production and consumption activities that aid in determining how scarce resources are allocated. This is also known as an economic system. Personal finance is the financial management which an individual or a family unit performs to budget, save, and spend monetary resources over time, taking into account various financial risks and future life events.

Entrepreneurship The capacity and willingness to develop organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit. The most obvious example of entrepreneurship is the starting of new businesses. fits, Trusts & Estates.

Information technology: Set of tools, processes, and methodologies (such as coding/programming, data communications, data conversion, storage and retrieval, systems analysis and design, systems control) and associated equipment employed to collect, process, and present information.

International business comprises all commercial transactions (private and governmental, sales, investments, logistics, and transportation) that take place between two or more regions, countries and nations beyond their political boundaries.

Management: The organization and coordination of the activities of a business in order to achieve defined objectives. Management consists of the interlocking functions of creating corporate policy and organizing, planning, controlling, and directing an organization's resources in order to achieve the objectives of that policy

Marketing is the study and  management  of  exchange   relationships . [1]  [2]  The  American Marketing Association  has defined marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large

3. Discuss Extensively on the Concept of Business Education 

Concept of Business Education

In order to be able to understand the concept of business education, it would be necessary to look at the definitions of business education in the past and present time. This is because technology has helped to change definitions of certain things. It therefore, implies that business education, as a course of study has to move with time. 

Popham (1975) said when a group of people were asked what business education is? The reply was as follows: A business executive replied, “Business Education is education to produce goods and services”. A radical retorted: It is the avenue to make enormous profit. One teacher responded: Economic concepts necessary for living in a business economy. Another teacher answered: Learning skills to enter a business or distributive job. A person on the street said “Shorthand and typing, that’s it”. After looking at the different views of business educators, Popham came to a conclusion that: Business education is a course that prepares students for entry into and advancement in jobs within business and it is equally important because it prepares students to handle their own business affairs and to function intelligently as consumers and citizens in a business economy. Nolan, Hayden & Malsbary (1967) defined business education as those business programmes and courses taught ordinarily at the secondary school level. Osuala E.C. (1989) defined Business education as an essential part of the preparation of youths for live and living. In 2004, Osuala, gave another definition as a programme of instruction which consists of two parts (1) Office education - a vocational programme of office careers through initial, refresher and upgrading education and (2) General business education - a programme to provide students with information and competences which are needed by all in managing personal business affairs and in using the services of the business. Still on the definition of business education, Njoku (1997) defines business education as that facet of educational training that helps the individual to acquire relevant skills needed for living. However in 2006 Njoku gave another definition as an educational programme that equips an individual with functional and suitable skills, knowledge, attitude and value that would enable him/her operates in the environment he/she finds himself/herself. It can be seen from the foregoing discussions that as the years go by; the definitions of business education continue to change. This means that business education is not static.

Also, according to the American Vocational Association (AVA, 1980), Business Education programme, is a broad and comprehensive discipline whose instructional programme encompasses knowledge, skills, vocation and aptitude needed by all citizens in order to effectively manage their personal businesses and also function in the economic system.

Wilson (1999) views business education as a broad based business programme having a composite of represents a broad and diverse discipline that includes in all types of educational delivery system.

Business Education, an academic programme offered in tertiary institution is designed to provide learning situations for skill acquisition among students who could apply such skills in their occupation, managing personal business, for personal living in the society and for nation building. Its components are therefore a union of general education and business components. The growing need for business knowledge has continued to expand and increase from the era of industrial revolution in western world and indigenization policy (Osuala 2009). Business Education is increasingly demanded to fill the gap which unemployment has created. The skill gap of youths graduating from the nation’s higher institutions must be filled otherwise the social vices and youth restiveness would hardly be averted.

Business Education according to Okoli (2010) is that aspect of the total educational programme that provides students with the knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes needed to perform effectively in the business world as a producer and/or consumer of goods and services that business offers as well as to be able to impact the knowledge to the learners. 

Business Education is an important part of general education which emphasizes skill acquisition for office use. Business Education is a programme of instruction that consists of two parts, namely;

Office Education - a programme of vocation for office careers, and General Business Education - a programme which provides the recipients with competencies and skills needed in managing personal business affairs and using the services of the business world (Olaoluwa, 2012). An individual who receives training in Business Education can easily develop potentials for entrepreneurship pursuits especially in this era of economic meltdown and unemployment (Ibeneme & Ikegwuani, 2010).

From the above definitions, it can be deduced that Business Education is education for and about business or training in business skills. 

Business Education which is offered at the universities and colleges of education is concerned mainly with the development of relevant and saleable skills and knowledge that would enable an individual to function effectively in the world of work (Onojetah, 2012). 

Business Education provides employment for graduates. In Business Education programme, courses in Marketing, Management, Accounting and Office Technology and Management are offered by the students.

Business Education students are expected to possess the relevant skills, competencies and knowledge in these major aspects of Business Education graduation. The objectives of introducing Business Education at university level are:

1) To produce competent degree graduates who can be self-employed;

2) To produce competent degree graduates who can teach Business Education courses in secondary school and   higher institutions;

3) To produce competent degree graduates who can inculcate business ideas into the economy;

4) To produce competent degree graduates who can help in formulating economic policies;

5) To produce competent degree graduates who can employ other persons to reduce unemployment rate. (Olabisi 2006)

It could be deduced from the definitions above that Business education is an education for and about business. It combines both theoretical and practical knowledge. In the same vein, it exposes the recipient to the economic system of his country and equips him with lifelong skills that would enable him to make reasonable judgment as a producer, employee or consumer of goods and services.

Business education deals with empowerment necessary to meet business challenges in a dynamic business world or society. It offers recipients the ability to cope with emerging changes in education, and in business where the person is expected to manifest all the skills acquired while in training. Therefore, business education is planned for training and developing recipients to expose them in the field of business, and as a professional, consequently, expanding the way for imparting competences for economic development of the society.

3b. highlight the importance of business education to the followings:

a. Students

b. Entrepreneur 

c. Economy 

d. Business man 

4. Discuss any five business education courses in secondary education 

· Business studies 

· Financial accounting 

· Book-keeping 

· Insurance 

· Commerce 

· Office practice 

· Marketing 

· Information and communication technology (ICT)

5. Discuss The Concept of Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship is the willingness and the ability of an individual to seek out a new investment opportunity, establish an enterprise based on this and run it successfully either for profit making or social benefit. Entrepreneurship is actually concerned with the identification of gaps and business opportunities in one’s immediate environment and bringing together the necessary resources in an innovative way to fill these gaps and in the process gaining personal rewards (which may or may not be for profit motives). The three main concepts in entrepreneurship are evaluating opportunities, securing resources, and growing and sustaining the enterprise.

Entrepreneurship, according to Omolayo (2006) is the act of starting a company, arranging business deals and taking risks in order to make a profit through the education skills acquired. To him, entrepreneurship can be described as “the process of bringing together creative and innovative ideas and coupling these with management and organizational skills in order to combine people, money and resources to meet an identified need and create wealth. In the same vein, Nwangwu (2007) opined that entrepreneurship is a process of bringing together the factors of production, which include land, labour and capital so as to provide a product or service for public consumption. However, the operational definition of entrepreneurship is the willingness and ability of a person or persons to acquire educational skills to explore and exploit investment opportunities, establish and manage a successful business enterprise.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION

Education is the process of acquiring knowledge, special skills and experiences by an individual for effective conquering and adaptation to his environment. Entrepreneurship education seeks to provide students with the knowledge, skills and motivation to encourage entrepreneurial success in a variety of settings. Variations of entrepreneurial education are offered at all levels of schooling from primary or secondary schools through graduate university programs.

Basically, entrepreneurship education is oriented towards four methods for practical results. These methods may include:

1. Regular entrepreneurship, which is most popular and suitable for opening of a new organization or starting a new business;

2. Corporate entrepreneurship, which is suitable for promoting innovation or introducing new products or services or markets in existing firms;

3. Social entrepreneurship or social venturing, which involves creating charitable organizations that are expected to be self -financing in addition to doing their usual activities; and

4. Public sector entrepreneurship, designs to improve innovation and customer service delivery.

5. Traditional models of education fall short in their ability to link the knowledge and concepts covered in the classrooms to the skills and practice of entrepreneurship. Traditional learning methods most commonly employed in management education provide learning experiences that are inadequate in several respects.

Entrepreneurship education is very crucial for entrepreneurship development because it is the engine that propels creativity and innovations into practical manifestations in form of business ventures and other investment opportunities. Without a functional education the manifestation of entrepreneurship skills in individuals may be difficult.

WHO IS AN ENTREPRENEUR?

An entrepreneur is a person that utilizes the opportunity of instability, turbulence, lack and wants to produce something new or modifies an existing one for profit motive. An entrepreneur can also be seen as a person that has some comparative advantage in the decision making process either because he or she has better information or different perception of events or opportunities.

Entrepreneur can also be defined as an innovating individual who has developed an ongoing business activity where none existed before. Meredith (1983) defined an entrepreneur as a person or persons who possesses the ability to recognize and evaluate business opportunities, assemble the necessary resources to take advantage of them and take appropriate action to ensure success. Entrepreneurs are people who constantly discover new markets and try to figure out how to supply those markets efficiently and make a profit. He is a person that searches for change, responds to change, and exploits change by converting change into business opportunity.

Objectives of Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship education according to Paul (2005) is structured to achieve the following objectives:

Ø To offer functional education for the youth that will enable them to be self-employed and self-reliant.

Ø Provide the youth graduates with adequate training that will enable them to be creative and innovative in identifying novel business opportunities.

Ø To serve as a catalyst for economic growth and development.

Ø Offer tertiary institution graduates with adequate training in risk management, to make certain bearing feasible.

Ø To reduce high rule of poverty.

Ø Create employment generation.

Ø Reduction in rural-urban migration.

CHALLENGES OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

Within the framework of the National Policy on Education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2014), the primary goals of university education in Nigeria are to: 

a. Contribute to national development through high level relevant manpower training; 

b. Develop the intellectual proper values for the survival of the individual and society; 

c. Develop the intellectual capability of individuals to understand and appreciate their local and external environments; 

d. Acquire both physical and intellectual skills which will enable individuals to be self-reliant and useful members of the society; 

e. Promote and encourage scholarship and community service; 

f. Forge and cement national unity; and 

g. Promote national and international understanding and interaction. 

Brown (2012) highlighted nine basic factors that hinder entrepreneurship education in our universities in Nigeria. These are:

v Poor knowledge based economy and low spirit of competition; 

v Poor enterprising culture;

v Lack of entrepreneurship teachers, materials and equipment; 

v Unavailability of relevant funds; 

v Non-inclusion of entrepreneurship program in the general school curricula;

v Poor societal attitude to technical and vocational education development; 

v Inadequate facilities and equipment for teaching and learning in practical-related courses;

v Insensitivity of government to enterprise creation and expansion strategy; 

v Poor planning and execution of processes of action. 

However, one can state categorically that several of these factors are gradually being tackled by the Federal Government of Nigeria under its relevant agencies.

 RECOMMENDATIONS 

For entrepreneurship education in Nigerian Universities to be an instrument for National transformation, the following recommendations are suggested: 

v Training, on a regular basis of all lecturers and instructors on entrepreneurship education: lecturers should be recruited, trained and re-trained in the area of entrepreneurship education. They should be sponsored to attend local and international conferences to acquire more knowledge so that they can effectively transfer entrepreneurial skills into the students. 

v Provisions of access to adequate resources (including capital) to graduating students to enable them start their own business. 

v The various university managements should contact some Non-Governmental Organisations or banks to give soft loans/grants to entrepreneurship educators to establish and run their own businesses. This will enable them to acquire practical experience from their own initiatives for onward transmission to the students. 

v Centre for entrepreneurship education should mandatorily be established in every Nigerian university and should constantly organize workshops for the students as well as invite successful businessmen and women to give talk on how to initiate, source for funds, start and run a business successfully. 

v Undergraduate students should be mandated to go for internship with a successful entrepreneur for at least a period of two months. This will also help them to practically acquire entrepreneurial skills that will enable them initiate, establish and run their businesses after graduation. The internship training may not necessarily be a full two months but 8–10 hours in a week. 

v Provision of appropriate instruction materials and local infrastructure and support services to ensure relevance to the Nigerian situation.

CONCLUSION

Entrepreneurship education is a welcome development in Nigerian universities. However, the government directive for its introduction in all the tertiary institutions in the country in a one fell swoop without adequate preparation has aggravated the old-age problems of underfunding, dysfunctionality and ant-intellectualism. The curriculum was externally influenced by both the UNESCO and ILO, and needs immediate restructuring for effective adaptation in our environment.

The necessary learning materials, including modern facilities and equipment should be provided for a stimulating and challenging learning environment so that the products of the system will be job makers rather than job seekers as is the case now. The lecturers should be specifically trained and regularly retrained for efficiency and optimum performance.

The Federal and state governments should invest massively in the universities so that the current entrepreneurship education will not end up being a replica of the current conventional dysfunctional programme.