The effects of entrepreneurship education on the performance of graduates of technical institutions in Thika District

Abstract

Entrepreneurship education was introduced in all technical institutions in 1990 after recommendation by various government policy documents. According to Sifuna (1981), industrial education was to focus on better housing, clothing, mechanical tools and village industries such as weaving leather work, pottery and mat making. Also Wanjala (1991) called for adoption of an education relevant to the needs of communities and to preserve the best of African tradition and prepare students for the world of work. Entrepreneurship education was therefore introduced as a strategy for self reliance and rapid economic growth. This study sought to investigate how entrepreneurship education had impacted on the performance of graduates of technical institutions in Thika district.

The study target population consisted of all graduates who successfully went through entrepreneurship education alongside their vocational trade and completed school between 1993 and 2000. Purposive and snow balling methods were used to select a sample of 150 respondents. Data was collected by use of a questionnaire and analyzed by use of descriptive statistics such as frequency tables, percentages, means and standard deviation According to the study entrepreneurship training offered at technical institutions had a positive impact on the lives of the graduates. The training is also adequate despite the failure to effectively capture networking, coping with change and competitive competencies.

From this study it can be concluded that graduates of technical institutions have a positive perception towards entrepreneurship education and self-employment. The study also concluded that training is not an adequate factor that affects performance of graduates, other interventions such as access to technology, markets and capital needs to be addressed. Majority of graduates still take formal employment as their preferred option.'The study recommends that training should be complemented with other factors such as access to capital, access to technology, technological information, and general enabling environment.