Institutional Collaboration as a Panacea for Students’ Self-Employment in Tertiary Institutions in Bayelsa State, Nigeria (Published)
The study investigated institutional collaboration as a panacea for students’ self-employment in tertiary institutions in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Three research questions were answered in the study. The study adopted convergent mixed method approach while the population of the study as all private employers of labour in small and medium scale businesses in Bayelsa State as well as Directors, lecturers and students in the various Entrepreneurship Centres across all the State owned tertiary institutions in Bayelsa State. The sample size for the study was 192 respondents consisting of three Directors, 30 CEOs of STEAM industries, 15 lecturers and 144 students within and around the selected institutions. Primary sources of data which were questionnaire (quantitative) and Key Informant Interview (qualitative) were used for data collection. Data collected quantitatively was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage while the qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The result of the study indicated that funding and research collaborations were the major forms of institutional collaboration expected for students’ self-employment. There existed a high extent of collaboration in the areas of capacity building and programmes implementation. The strategies identified as vital to improving these collaborations included the clear definition of the responsibilities of all collaborating partners for improved students’ self-employment. The study recommended regular business meetings between these educational institutions and industry experts to deliberate on emerging issues that will enhance students’ self-employment in these institutions.
Keywords: Bayelsa State, Self-employment, Students, Tertiary Institutions, institutional collaboration
Educational Resource Needs and Access to Tertiary Education among People with Disability in Bayelsa State (Published)
The paper investigated educational resource needs and access to tertiary education among people with disability in Bayelsa State. Three research questions were raised and three hypotheses tested in the study. Mixed method approach was adopted in the study while 165 respondents consisting 160 persons with disability, four Deans of Student Affairs and an executive of Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) in Bayelsa State were sampled for the study using multistage sampling technique. Respondents were selected from within and outside four randomly selected tertiary institutions namely; Bayelsa Medical University (Yenagoa LGA), Federal University Otuoke (Ogbia LGA), Niger Delta University (Southern Ijaw LGA) and Isaac Jasper Boro College of Education (Sagbama LGA). Instruments used for data collection were questionnaire for the persons with disability as well as Focus Group Discussion while five Key Informant Interviews (KIIs)was conducted with the other respondents. Data collected quantitatively were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation and t-test while the qualitative data was analyzed using content and thematic analysis. The finding of the study indicated that financial resource, policy intervention and assistive technology were the priority educational resource need of the respondents. Inaccessibility to tertiary education has implication on the employment prospects and human rights of the respondents and this can only be corrected through appropriate policies, better infrastructure among other strategies. There were differences between the opinion of students and non-students on the issues interrogated. It was recommended that the government should collaborate with school administrators to create a fund for persons with disability who wish to acquire tertiary education across all spheres.
Keywords: Access, Bayelsa State, disability, educational resource, tertiary education