The study investigated the barriers to institutional collaboration for students’ self-employment in tertiary institutions in Bayelsa State. Two research questions were raised to guide the study which employed convergent mixed method approach. The population of the study was 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 out of which 192 respondents made up of three Directors, 30 CEOs of STEAM industries, 15 lecturers and 144 students within and around the selected institutions were sampled using multistage sampling procedure. Primary source of data was adopted in the study which included questionnaire and Key Informant Interview which were used for data gathering and analyzed using frequency, percentage, and thematic analysis. The result of the study showed that benefits of institutional collaboration on students’ self-employment includes business networking and improved career development. The possible constraints to this collaboration includes difference in organizational goals as well as government regulations. It was recommended that tertiary educational institutions should be granted autonomy by the government to establish collaborations that will improve students’ employment prospects while existing government regulations to such collaborations should be reformed for improved students’ self-employment.
Keywords: Barriers, Bayelsa State, Institutional Collaboration, Self-employment, Tertiary Institution
