Private Sector Participation and the Provision of Facilities for Universities Business Education Undergraduates’ Acquisition of 21st Century Skills

Abstract

This study investigated private sector participation and the provision of facilities for universities business education undergraduates’ acquisition of 21st century skills. It looked at infrastructural and instructional facilities. Two research questions were answered while two hypotheses guided the study. The population comprised heads of departments, heads of units, senior non-academic staff, 300 and 400 levels students in the 2021/2022 academic session from Vocational and Technical Education departments in which business education is a part drawn from two institutions: University of Calabar (UNICAL) and Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH). A sample of 124 respondents out of a population of 376 was drawn therefrom. Of this number, 122 copies of the instrument representing 98.39% return rate was achieved. Census technique was used to select the heads of departments, heads of unit and senior non-academic staff, purposive sampling was used in selecting 300 and 400 levels students because they were considered relatively knowledgeable concerning the items contained in the questionnaire, while systematic random sampling was adopted in selecting the 300 and 400 levels students that actually responded to the questionnaire. A validated four point rating scale structured questionnaire titled Private Sector Participation and the Provision of Facilities for Universities Business Education Undergraduates’ Acquisition of 21st Century Skills Questionnaire (PSPPFUBEUSAQ) was used for data collection. A reliability estimate of .84 was achieved for the instrument using Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient after a pilot test. Mean and standard deviation were used in answering the research questions, while population t-test was used in testing the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. Findings revealed among others that the extent of private sector participation in the provision of infrastructural facilities for universities business education undergraduates’ acquisition of 21st century skills is significantly low. Based on this, it was recommended that the government as well as the regulatory authorities should as a matter of importance enact policies that will mandate private sector organizations to regularly donate educational facilities to institutions of learning in their operational areas. Such donations can be carried out as part of their philanthropic corporate social responsibilities which could aggregate a certain percentage of their annual profits.