Upskilling Entrepreneurial And Digital Skills For Optimizing Tertiary Students’ Engagement In Stem Education, Nigeria

Strengthening STEM education through upskilling entrepreneurial and digital skills is imperative for actualizing sustainable development goals in Nigeria. The paper focuses on tertiary students’ engagement in STEM education with upskilling for sustainable national development. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study conducted in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. The population was all the 580 Year One and Year Two undergraduate students across all the units of the department of Science Education, University of Uyo for the 2023/2024 session. A sample size of 300 students was selected using purposive sampling technique. Questionnaire on Tertiary students’ engagement in STEM education through upskilling consisting of 45 multiple-choice test items on hands-on entrepreneurship activities and digital tools was the instrument used for data collection. Instrument standardization and validation was done by three experts, one in Test and Measurement from the departments of Educational Foundation and two in Science Education, all in the Faculty of Education, University of Uyo. Questionnaire reliability of .81 was obtained from Cronbach alpha coefficient. Mean and standard deviation were used for analysis. Findings show that many students have skills for entrepreneurial upskilling to carry out STEM activities but need added value on retraining to update already acquired skills. Findings also showed that many students have knowledge of digital skills they employ in their day-to-day school tasks but upgrading is necessary to compete effectively in a dynamic changing world. Remedies were proffered for creativity on sustainability.