EXTENT OF SKILLS DEVELOPED BY BUSINESS EDUCATION STUDENTS FOR SELF EMPLOYMENT AFTER GRADUATION ACROSS TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN RIVERS STATE

This study investigated the extent of skills developed by Business Education students for selfemployment after graduation across tertiary institutions in Rivers State.Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The studied population was made up of 337 final year undergraduate Business Education students during 2023/2024 academic session across three tertiary institutions in Rivers State namely Rivers State University (RSU), Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE), Port-Harcourt, and Federal College of Education (Tech.), Omoku - Rivers State. The sample size was made up of the entire 337 final year undergraduate Business Education across the three tertiary institutions, hence no sampling technique was used. Researcher’s designed structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Two Business education lecturers with the knowledge of research from Rivers State University validated the instrument. For the reliability index, Pearson Product Moment Correlation r value of 0.74 was obtained for the instrument using a test retest method. Out of the 337 copies of the instrument administered, only 312 copies were properly filled and returned, and the rate of return was approximately 93%. The distribution of the returned copies are RSU – 41, IAUE – 153 and FCE(T), Omoku – 118. Data were analysed using mean and cluster mean to answer the research questions. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the formulated hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed that to a high extent business functions skills for self employment were developed; and to a low extent psychological skills for self employment were developed by Business Education students across tertiary institutions in Rivers State. The results also revealed that there is no significant difference on the extent of business functions skills and the extent of psychological skills developed by Business Education students for self-employment after graduation across tertiary institution in Rivers State. It was recommended among others that Business education lecturers should provide their students with learning activities that require the continuous performance of business functions tasks in order to enhance the participants business functions skills