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The University of Ilorin is blazing a trail in entrepreneurship education to ensure the production of graduates that would be job creators.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sulyman Abdulkareem, disclosed this at the University Auditorium last Tuesday (December 19, 2017) while declaring open a sensitisation workshop organised by the Unilorin Technical Entrepreneurship Centre (TEC) on the introduction of the practical skills acquisition course (GSE301) for 300 level students of the University.

Prof. Abdulkareem, who spoke through the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Management Services), Prof. Adedayo Abdulkareem, said, “I am indeed happy that this workshop is holding to finalise the mode of delivery of the practical skills acquisition course for the 300 level students. This is the best way to proceed to ensure a seamless and objective driven delivery of the course for the ultimate benefits of the students, the community and Nigeria at large”.

The Vice-Chancellor said, “When the NUC enforced entrepreneurship education for all universities, the University of Ilorin Senate sought to strengthen the existing course at TEC. The Senate subsequently in 2014 approved the introduction of practical skills acquisition aspect to ensure that vocational skills are properly gained during the university education of the students here in the better by far campus. The course, hitherto, has been a 3 units single course”, he added.

 He said that the University is adding a twin training room complex to the existing building at the Technical and Entrepreneurship Centre.

Prof. Abdulkareem added, “The University has identified the need to have an integrated entrepreneurship centre with as many thriving skills as possible with facilities for effective training of students and volunteer trainers among staff and members of our immediate community apart from generating revenue for the University from the sales of the items produced.

To boost the Centre's activities, the Vice-Chancellor disclosed that another set of equipment, funded by TETFund, will soon be delivered, adding that it would further enhance the University's effort at creating new daily services and training at the Centre.

He said, “These new skill areas include Photography and Events Management, Snail Breeding, Repair of Radio, Computers, and Watches, and additional equipment to complement the existing ones on Fashion, Bags, Leather Works, Household Consumables, Detergents, Shampoos, and Aquaculture skills.

Prof. Abdulkareem expressed happiness that the workshop was holding to finalise the mode of delivery of the practical skills acquisition course for the 300 level students. “This”, according to him, “is the best way to proceed to ensure a seamless and objective driven delivery of the course for the ultimate benefits of the students, the community and Nigeria at large”.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Director of the Centre, Dr. Is'haq Funsho Abdul, said that the task of delivering the GNS 301 calls for sound preparation to secure the programme and give the students value for their money and time.

Dr. Abdul said, “More importantly, the students should gain enough experience within the short period of a semester to become self sufficient and capable of earning some income from the skills learnt if they so choose to be self-employed after graduation”.

The Director said that the workshop would afford participants an opportunity to refresh their memories on entrepreneurship education, gain insight on how and best ways to deliver hands-on vocational training, prepare their own learning guides and possibly manuals as well as methods of assessing the students at the end of the semester.

While presenting his paper titled “Entrepreneurship Education”, the Chief Executive Officer of D-Positive Change, Mr. Nasir Abdulquadri, said that for entrepreneurship education to be successful, participants must “consider and give extraordinary time to thinking and approaches to our extraordinary economic problems”.

Mr. Abdulquadri stressed that “our educational system must be totally overhauled and made 21st century compliant”, saying, “We cannot continue to churn out graduates into 21st century economy with 19th/20th century educational curriculum”.

According to the Guest Speaker, “The employee mind set approach of our educational system must be changed to at least entrepreneurship mind set approach and we should realize that the compulsory entrepreneurship center in each higher institution is never enough to cater for thousands of our undergraduate students, hence the domiciliation of peculiar entrepreneurship education into each course of study”.