Reassessment of Entrepreneurship Education and Employability Among Graduate in Cross River State, Nigeria

This study, titled “Reassessment of Entrepreneurship Education and Employability Among Graduates in Cross River State,” examines the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in enhancing the employability, self-reliance, and job creation potential of university and tertiary institution graduates within the state. In light of persistent graduate unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria, this reassessment seeks to determine whether the existing entrepreneurship curriculum and teaching methods adequately equip students with practical skills and entrepreneurial mindsets. The research adopted a Descriptive survey research design. with total the population of about 1023 randomly selected from UNICROSS, UNICAL AND UEA and employers of labour. Simple random sampling technique was used to drawn sample size of 210 graduate and employers of labour in cross river state, calabar was obtained using Cohen, Mansion and Morison (2018) criteria for very large populations sampling at confidence interval level of 95 confidence level; Because the sample size is Large enough to detect meaningful effects. The Instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “reassessment of entrepreneurship education and employability among graduate questionnaire” (REEEGQ). The instrument was developed by the researcher. The questionnaire is structured on a four- point rating to determine the reassessment of entrepreneurship education and employability The questionnaire was validated by three (3) experts. The reliability is; cluster A=0.77, cluster B=0.82, cluster C= 0.61, cluster D = 0.79, with an overall reliability coefficient of 0.86 was obtained through Cronbach alpha method. Mean was used to answer the research questions, while the hypotheses were tested using independent t – test statistic at 0.05 level of significance. Findings reveal that entrepreneurship education has a significant positive impact on graduates’ employability. The reassessment indicates that while entrepreneurship education holds strong potential as a tool for employment generation, its current implementation requires substantial improvement. The study concludes that strengthening curriculum delivery, increasing experiential learning opportunities, and providing institutional and government support are critical to maximizing the employability benefits of entrepreneurship education. Recommendations are made for policymakers, educational institutions, and stakeholders to reposition entrepreneurship education as a practical, outcome-driven component of graduate development.