ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION, ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCE, AND ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS: BASIS FOR CURRICULUM ENHANCEMENT

Business programs in higher education institutions are paramount to foster entrepreneurship as it hones students’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, and desires which are essential for their success as future entrepreneurs. The study aimed at determining the students’ levels of entrepreneurship education (EE), entrepreneurial competence (EC) and entrepreneurial intentions (EI) among college students who finished entrepreneurship courses at St. Vincent’s College Incorporated, Dipolog City, Philippines. It also focused on measuring the association of students’ levels of entrepreneurship education to their entrepreneurial competence, and entrepreneurial intentions. This study is a descriptive-correlational research design. A census approach was employed, and survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 100 college students enrolled in business programs. This study utilized both descriptive statistics to analyze the central tendency and variability of collected data, and inferential statistics to measure the relationships, differences, and patterns among variables. Findings revealed that in general, students’ levels of entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial competence and entrepreneurial intentions were high. The differences in students’ level of EE was not significant when they were grouped according to their profile. Moreover, entrepreneurship education was positively and significantly correlated with entrepreneurial competence, and their relationship was high. Entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intentions were also positively and significantly correlated however, their relationship was at a moderate level. The study suggested that entrepreneurship education be intensified through curriculum enhancement specifically on creating a more contextualized syllabus for entrepreneurship courses, highlighting hands-on experience that would greatly develop students’ EC and EI leading to a successful career in business.