The Roles of Technology and Vocational Education in Enhancing Entrepreneurial Skills in a Global Economy

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1 The Roles of Technology and Vocational Education in Enhancing Entrepreneurial Skills in a Global Economy Paul.A. Nwobasi Abstract This paper is concerned with the high rate of unemployment in our society as is evidenced by growing number of unemployed graduates in our society. The focus is on the roles of technology and vocational education (TVE) in enhancing entrepreneurial skills that will equip students for entrepreneurship education in Information and Communication Technology (ICT.) driven technological environment. The world has become globalized and the future prosperity depends on comparative advantage. This comparative advantage hinges on people and their technical or technological sophistication. Towards this, some crucial entrepreneurial and technical skills needed by the students of TVE in colleges of education (technical), polytechnics and universities to meet the trends in a global economy were analyzed. Introduction From the beginning of time, man has strived to improve his way and quality of life. The caveman discovered how to make and use tools, develop a logical sequence for activities, and evolve process that added value to his life. According to Egbogah (2007) the totality of the use and the application of his knowledge (caveman s), skills, tools, and materials constitute what we call technology today. Natural instinct therefore directs us and compels the application of technology for the well-being of man. Technology plays a fundamental role in wealth creation, improvement of the quality of life, real economic growth, and transformation of the society. Technology is, therefore, the primary engine of economic growth and provides the key to unlocking the country s potentials (Egbogah, 2007). Where this engine for development and economic growth fails, it always results in serious social, economic and developmental problems. These problems among others include unemployment, poverty, and underdevelopment. In Nigeria, the growing problem of unemployment in the country has contributed largely to the worsening problem of poverty among the populace. Unemployment according to Olaitan (1996) leads to frustration and disillusionment which may result in crime or drug abuse in a futile attempt to escape from and forget the pains and humiliation of poverty and lack. The problem of unemployment, he further stated, has worsened as millions of school leavers and graduates of tertiary institutions have not secured gainful employment over the years. Unemployment has posed a serious problem not only to the welfare of individuals but also to that of their families. Many able bodied and highly qualified persons who could not secure gainful employment

2 have remained economically dependent on their parents. This is because they lack the necessary occupational skills to be self employed and to effectively function in today s world of work. These occupational skills can be provided by technology and vocational education. According to Abdulahi (1994) technology education is that aspect of education that involves the acquisition of techniques and application of the knowledge of the science for the improvement of man s surrounding. This includes dealing with manpower training in professional areas such as engineering, agriculture, business, home economics, etc. These skills involve practical works and applications that lead to a particular occupation. Olaitan (1996) also defined technology and vocational education as that form of education which emphasis the development of occupational skills needed as preparation for work. It is a form of education which promotes dignity of labour by entrenching work as the goal of education. FGN (2004) defined technology and vocational education as that form of education which equips individuals with appropriate skills, abilities and competences as equipment for the individual to live in and contribute to the development of the society. Technology and vocational education prepares one for the world of work with which the individual become reliant and can make contributions to the development of the society. As employers look for new talents every year from new graduates, it is important to not only have a solid education but graduates that have features that stand out from the rest of the graduating students. With the economy being more globalized than ever, it is important to have a background and a skill set that allows graduates to become immersed in the global economy right from graduation (Cote, 2007). It is important for these students or graduates to have skills in innovation in technology education and entrepreneurship to be ready to fit into the global market place on which today s economy depends on.

3 Entrepreneurial Skills Needed by Technology and Vocational Education Graduates in a Global Economy. An entrepreneur is a person who makes plans for a business or a piece of work and gets it going. Anyanwuocha (2001) observes that the entrepreneur is the chief co-ordinator, controller and organizer of the production process. The entrepreneur combines other factors of production (land, capital and others) in such a way as to obtain maximum production of goods and services at minimum costs. In order to effectively enhance occupational skills in the present day, entrepreneurs need also to acquire information and communication technology knowledge and skills. Mkpozi (1996) observed that a country that is developing and manufacturing its own goods either from Hi-Tech or small/medium scale industries using indigenous skills and exports some of those goods to other countries is usually economically stable. This could be better achieved through the acquisition of entrepreneurial and occupational skills in technology and vocational education. Individuals with technical and vocation skills and good knowledge of ICT are characterized by self-reliance, selfemployment and fit properly into today s technical, entrepreneurial and business world. The entrepreneur should therefore possess technical skills, ideas and management sills which are necessary for the success of the venture. One of such skills is information and communication technology which is characterized by employee empowerment and involves the making of unskilled and semiskilled workers to be skilful and functional in today s world of work. It also involves the development of task oriented team of workers who no longer depend on individual managers for all their decisions to achieve targets. Technical process re-engineering are also required to redesign technical work processes, jobs, organizational structure, management system, and also in process designs using in manufacturing industries. These components of ICT have great implications for the enhancement of entrepreneurship education in technology and vocational education field of work. According to Azuka, Nwosu, Kanu and Agomuo (2006), classroom behaviour must align with ICT- driven environment which is constantly shaping and re-shaping the work place and consequently, what is learnt and how learning takes place. There are various numbers of opportunities for technology and vocational education graduates with entrepreneurship skills in ICT driven technical and vocational education environment. These opportunities exist in various forms for the enhancing entrepreneurship skills. Nwabuona (2004) views entrepreneurship education as the identification of the general characteristics of entrepreneurs and how potential entrepreneurs can be trained in management techniques needed for effective performance of persons for long time survival of an organization after the acquisition of occupational skills. Therefore, the roles technology and vocational education in

4 enhancement of entrepreneurship skills is to identify and equipped graduates with critical wealth of skills, technical knowledge, and a good measure of selfconfidence using information and communication technology competence. The entrepreneur should therefore possess entrepreneurial and management skills which are necessary for the success of the venture. Ogalanya in Nwabuona (2004) identified entrepreneurial skills to include managerial or administrative skills, job/technical skills, human relations skills, innovative/enterprising skills, competitive skills, communication skills, conceptual/planning skills, supervisory/guidance skills, according skills, investigation/problem solving skills. Ohakwe (2003) observed entrepreneurial skills as banking transactions, internet concepts and skills, internet websites knowledge and skills. An adequate knowledge of these concepts, skills and internet competences certainly is an asset to technology and vocational education graduates in today s ICT driven world. Information Communication Technology The Information communication technology (ICT) is a fast growing new technological era. The ICT is entering fast in Nigeria both in education and in the job market but still in its infancy. The ICT has opened global job market where people with competence can do jobs sitting in their own house anywhere in the world without going to or attending the work place (Alam, 2009). ICT is very important and as rightly observed by UNDP Human Development Report 2001 (UNDP, 2001) Marketing New Technologies Work for Human Development, more information can be sent over a single cable in a second than in 1997 was sent over the entire internet in a month. They also observed that the cost of transmitting a trillion bits of information from Boston to Los Angeles has fallen from US$150,000 in1970 to 12 cents today. Role of Technology and Vocational Education Technology education is to be considered as the key agent of technology development, either as a way of developing human capacity, increasing the shield work force for modernization, industrialization, environmental development or as a matter of personnel freedom, developing capability and empowerment. Technology education is increasingly recognized to be central to both the origins of technological development and challenges and to the prospects for successfully dealing with them (Alam, 2009). Decision makers at all levels, need timely, reliable access to knowledge generated by technology and technical education to introduce rational policies that reflect a better global understanding of complex technical, economic, social, cultural and article issues concerning the society, and our environment.

5 Technical decision making and priority setting is an integral part of overall development planning and formation of technology development strategies. Above all, technology education is a human right and, as such, should receive priority in the allocation of national resources. It has become very necessary not to only keep technology education bound to the role of manufacturing skilled manpower but also to economic development and global economy. In Nigeria, technology education was previously not seen as fundamental for national development, or for the economic development, but for the school dropouts, and other social and political development within the nation and for individuals. Hallak (1990) argues that technology education is also linked to human resources development and that this has an impact on more than just economic growth, but also an impact on the wider development of individuals and societies. According to him, it contributes to: (a). Individual creativity, improved participation in the economic, social and cultural roles in society. (b). Improved understanding of an individual and heir respect for others, thus promoting social cohesion and material understanding (c) Improvement in health and nutrition. (d). Improved chances of economic development. (e). Improved technological development. (f). Socio-cultural change. (g). Democracy and equality (h). Ecological development/quality of life (increasing people s awareness of their environments). From our analysis so far, it is clear that modernization and economic development, depends on investmentment and appreciation of modern trends in technology education. According to Woodhall (1997) investment in technology education and training produces benefits for the individual and for society as whole. Conclusion The roles of technical and vocational education in enhancing entrepreneurial skills using information and communication technology is very important in training for self-employment, self-reliance and skills acquisition now that government cannot employ every graduate. This could be achieved through the development of entrepreneurial skills in technology and vocational education through information and communication technology. Technology and vocational education programme of our tertiary institutions should be directed to focus on enhancing the training for entrepreneurship in ICT so as to be functional in today s world of work and the global economy. In this period of mass unemployment and global economic fortunes, only the best can survive by being self-employed. The tertiary institutions where technology and vocational education programme is offered should encourage and

6 enhance entrepreneurial skills of students through constant review of the curriculum to reflect the technological changes and emerging technology in today s ICT driven technical environment. Technical educators should involve technological, technical, and business organization, government, NGOs and even successful industrialists in their service delivery to the students. References Abdulahi, M.D. (1994). Social and Economic Implementation of Vocational Technical Education for Technical Development in Nigeria. Keynote Address at the National Conference on Vocational Technical Education at Federal College of Education (Technical). Umunze April, 21 st. Alam, G. M. (2009). The Role of Science and Technology Education at Network Age population for Sustainable Development in Bangladesh through Human Resource Advancement. Academic Journals. Vol.4 (11). Anyanwuocha, R. A. I.(2001). Fundamentals of Economics. Onitsha. Africana-FEP Publishers Ltd. Azuka, E.B., Nwosu, B.O.; Kanu, I.N., & Agomuo E.E. (2006). Foundation of Business Education. Oko,: Data- World Computer Academy. Cote, B. D. (2007). Innovative Education in a Global Economy: An Interactive Qualifying Project Report. Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Boston. Egbogah, O. E. (2007), The Role of Technology in National Development. SPE Talent and Technology. Vol. No. 2. Federal Republic of Nigeria, (2004) National Policy on Education. NERDC Press Lagos. Hallack, J. (1990) Investing in the Feature, Seeing, Educational Priorities in the Developing World. UNESCO, Paris. Maunder, P. Myers, D. Wall, N. and Millar, R. L. (1993). Economics Explained. Third Edition. Collins Educational-HARPER Collins Publisher London. Mkposi, M.O. (1996). Vocational Technical Education in Manpower development and Economics Stability in Nigeria. Journal of Technology Education. Vol. I. No.I, page 178. Nwabuona, E.C. (2004). Information Technology (IT) and Enhancement of Entrepreneurship education in Secretarial Studies Programme in Polytechnics in Nigeria. A paper presented at the Association of Business Educators UNICA. Calabar. 2 ND -6 TH November. Ohakwe, S.N. (2003). Repackaging our poverty alleviation programmes towards a Great and dynamic economic. Paper presented at 2 nd Annual Conference of the Association for Encouraging Qualitative Education in Nigeria. AAU Ekpoma. 10 th -4 th September.

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