Identifying entrepreneurship abilities in agricultural extension and education specialized credits

Transcription

1 International Journal of Agriculture and Crop Sciences. Available online at IJACS/2013/5-23/ ISSN X 2013 IJACS Journal Identifying entrepreneurship abilities in agricultural extension and education specialized credits Reza Movahedi 1, Tahereh Charkhtabian 2 1. Assistant Professor, Agricultural Extension and Education Dep., College of Agriculture, Bu-Ali-Sina University, Hamedan, Iran 2. M.Sc. on rural development, Graduated from Department of Agricultural Extension and Education, Bu-Ali-Sina University, Hamedan, Iran. Corresponding author [email protected] ABSTRACT: The main aim of this study was to identify entrepreneurship and employability areas of specialized credits in agricultural extension and education. The research has conducted using a surveying methodology. Statistical population consisted of both students and graduates majoring in agricultural extension and education. Samples were 120 people which randomly selected. Data collection tool was a questionnaire which was face validated by a group of experts. Reliability of the questionnaire was done by calculating Cronbach's Alpha (α= 0.85). Both descriptive and analytical statistics were used in order to analyze data. Results showed that the most important entrepreneurship and employability areas in agricultural extension and education credits were ability to design extension and education programs, ability to produce extension and education media, educational and information technology ability, ability to teaching, and ability to develop and conduct a business. When comparing the students and graduates' view points, no significant difference was found between the two groups' views and the entrepreneurship and employability areas in agricultural extension and education. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Employment, Agricultural Extension and Education, Students and Graduates, Specialized Credits. INTRODUCTION Agriculture is one of the most important economic and social sectors in Iran. It not only supplies the country s food but also accounts for a high percentage of production (25% of the Gross National Product) and employment (23%) (Movahedi, 2009). Although there is substantial capacity for investment in agriculture and natural resources by both governmental and private sectors, Iran s potential has not been met in full because available resources have not been used appropriately. One of these potential resources is skilled people in agricultural sector. The agricultural sector requires skilled people who are capable of all aspects of work in agricultural and rural centers, including producing, processing and marketing agricultural products (FAO, 1997). Skilled and trained workers would be able to increase production, qualitatively and quantitatively, in each sector, thus enhancing the overall national standard of living (Zamanipour, 2007). On the other hand, employment situation of agricultural graduates in Iran shows that 22% of agricultural gradates are unemployed and 35% are being employed in non-agricultural jobs (this is 5 % in developed countries). During 25 years ago, about fiftythousand agricultural graduates (including natural resource sciences) have been employed in Iran, of them thirty five thousands graduates (equal to 70%) were being employed in public sectors and fifteen thousand graduates (equal to 30%) were being employed in non public sectors (Zamani and Azizi, 2006).One of the reasons for graduates unemployment seems to be lack of adaptability between graduates abilities and skills needed by labor and productive unites (Shahbazi and Alibeigi, 2007). Lack of entrepreneurship skills among the agricultural students and graduates is another reason for unemployment in developing countries (Sabouhi, 2000). According to Zamani (2001), poor practical abilities of agricultural graduates, irrelevancy of university subjects and curricula with labor market needs, governmental limitations about decreasing As a result; it is becoming increasingly difficult for agricultural graduates to find jobs in the public sector. Consequently, graduates need to find employment in the private sector or be self-employed (Movahedi et al., 2011). Students education must become more purposive and selective, since it now must relate to their area of work and to employment opportunities in the labor market.

2 Feedback to schools has shown that agricultural graduates have difficulties finding jobs that reflect their educational knowledge and skills (Shao, 2004). The structures of the labor market and working life are continuously changing (Chong et al. 2008). Problems of relevance and responsiveness of education and training to changing work tasks and employment structures are of particular concern in many countries (Saarnivaara and Sarja, 2007). Education has been the instrument in the development of man to enable him live an effective and meaningful life and to be able to contribute towards the development of society in which he finds himself. Many colleges and universities, various government and non-government agencies, provide entrepreneurial programs and training for the development of entrepreneurship (Dionco-Adetayo, 2004). Fostering entrepreneurship among students has become an important topic in universities and governments as well as in research. The positive role of universities in developing entrepreneurial intention and to explore the factors influencing entrepreneurial behavior of students are confirmed by a number of studies (Fayolle et al. 2005, Gibb 1994, Hannan et al. 2004, Hannon 2005) that help to explain the emergence of entrepreneurial intention among target groups as well as suggest the stimulation of entrepreneurship education that can influence the students attitudes and intentions towards entrepreneurship. The introduction of entrepreneurship programs to the college students would enhance students' attributes and further develop awareness of entrepreneurial opportunities and skills to form entrepreneurial ventures. The impact of entrepreneurship education has been recognized as ne of the rucial factors that help youths understand and foster an entrepreneurial attitude (Gorman et al., 1997; Kourilsky and Walstad, 1998). Few empirical studies have examined the entrepreneurial propensity of university students as a source of future entrepreneurs. Their attitude and knowledge of entrepreneurship are likely to shape their inclination to start their own businesses in the future (Wang and Wong, 2004) brahim and Soufani (2002) stated that university curricula should focus on encouraging autonomy and independence, innovation and creativity, as well as risktaking. Entrepreneurship knowledge and skills can be learned from entrepreneurship courses at the university level and through the introduction of these concepts at secondary schools and places of higher education. In all Nordic countries for instance, entrepreneurship and enterprise education have been introduced and penetrated the education system at various levels (Ron, 2006). In addition, according to new strategies posed by the EU, entrepreneurship should be introduced into the national curriculum at all levels from primary school through universities, either as part of other subjects or as a specific topic in its own right. In Iran, research conducted in this regard show that entrepreneurial activities can also play an important role in employment rates of university graduates. It therefore needs to be supported and improved at all educational levels. For example, Zamani and Azizi (2006) revealed that because of a reduction in governmental services that help employ university graduates, learning entrepreneurship skills can be useful to agricultural students in finding employment. Because the higher education system of Iran is highly centralized, the graduates are looking for paid employment rather than seeking entrepreneurial opportunities which would contribute to national development (Bazargan, 2000). In this regard, based on Eshaghian (2003), the most important mission of higher education about employment must be attention to entrepreneurship issue in education. According to Röpke (2007), much of the knowledge and skills learned at university and academic environments are wasted and will not find the way toward generating new technology and products. According to Ron (2006), entrepreneurial knowledge and skills can be learned through the university curricula with integrating the entrepreneurship concepts and topics into educational programs. Therefore, with regard to the importance of entrepreneurship role in preparing the agricultural graduates as the potential entrepreneurs, the question is what areas and topics of university course can promote entrepreneurial and employability activities among the agricultural students? Also, which entrepreneurial features and requirements through university courses are needed for becoming an entrepreneur? Therefore the main aim of the research was to respond the mentioned questions. Thus, the necessity and importance of strengthening and developing entrepreneurship through content and educational programs in agricultural extension and education major has been emphasis in this study. Accordingly, variables and components needed to be studied in this research have been shown as figure (1). 2846

3 The first component agricultural extension and education credits Students and graduates The second component Identify variables related to the areas of entrepreneurship Identify variables related to the characteristics of entrepreneurship promoting entreprene urship, Job Figure 1. the research components and variables MATERIALS AND METHODS The main aim of this study was to identify entrepreneurship areas of specialized credits in agricultural extension and education major. The research has conducted using a surveying methodology..the data collection tool was a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was structured around three sections, first personal features of the respondents, second entrepreneurship features (20 variables), and third section included perceptions of the respondents about university abilities and skills related to entrepreneurship (30 variables).the last variables were obtained from specialized syllabus of bachelor degree on agricultural extension and education major. Statistical population consisted of both students and graduates majoring in agricultural extension and education in 2012 academic year. Samples were 120 people which randomly selected. Validity of the research questions was verified by a panel of experts. Reliability of the questionnaire was done by calculating Cronbach's Alpha (α= 0.85). Data processing and outputs analyzing was done by SPSS software. Data analysis was done by two parts of descriptive and analytic methodologies. In descriptive section statistics such as mean, percent, variance, and standard deviation were used. In analytic section, both Mann Whiteny U test for comparing the ranking mean value between two groups of the respondents and factor analysis were used. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Based on the results the respondents' age ranged from 20 to 33 years with a mean value of 23 years. In terms of gender, 64.2 percent of the students were female and the rest were male percent of the respondents were senor students, 32.5 percent junior students, the rest were graduated from university. Of total respondents in the study 58.3 percent were students and 41.7 percent were the graduated on agricultural extension and education major. Of those graduated people 36.8 percent were unemployed and 63.2 percent were employed in labor market. Of those employed people 37.5 percent were working in the public sector and the rest working in the private sector or NGOs. The results also showed that among the employed graduates 29.2 percent were engaged in nonagricultural jobs and 70.8 percent worked in agricultural related. Descriptive results about entrepreneurship features In this regard, 20 features of entrepreneurship listed and asked from both the students and the graduated rate the features by a Likert type five point scales from very much to very low. As shown in Table (1) the entrepreneurship characteristics include creativity and innovation, willingness to work, and confidence were ranked by the graduates as first, second and third variables respectively. While the students ranked risk taking, conscientious work, work courage, and responsibility as the most important entrepreneurship features respectively. 2847

4 Table 1. Entrepreneurial characteristics affecting the employment Standard Mean Variables Standard Rank deviation deviation Mean Students' perceptions Graduates' perceptions Creativity and Innovation Interest in job Confidence Motivation and initiative responsibility Risk taking Having a strong public relations Entrepreneurial spirit Management ability Rank Work Courage Decision making skill Optimisttic and positive thinking Flexibility Spirit of teamwork Self-help Academic and professional ability work Conscientious The amount of study Competitiveness Order and law acceptance Table 2. entrepreneurship abilities and skills within university specialized credits Students' perceptions Graduates' perceptions Rank Standard Mean Variables Rank Standard Mean deviation deviation Ability to teach informal courses Ability to start rural businesses Ability to search and collect data via Internet Mass and group teaching skills and techniques Design lesson plans Ability to use computer software Ability to make training videos and films for farmers and rural Ability to communicate and work with village leaders Ability to manage and plan educational and extension courses Ability to produce radio and television programs related to Extension Ability to prepare and organize the content of training programs Ability to conduct needs assessment projects in villages Ability to set up and carry out research projects Ability to estimate costs of designing and implementing training programs Ability to planning extension programs Knowledge of the rules about NGOs and Cooperatives Ability to write paper for journals and newspapers Skills on conducting Participatory techniques and rapid appraisal Ability to create and publish posters and print media Ability to make extension and education films computer assisted Skill in applying the individual teaching techniques Poster design and develop with computer software Ability to set up in-the-job and pre-service training Ability to prepare a poster paper Designing modular training programs Ability to translate specialized texts to Persian Ability to produce Extension publications Ability to produce technical publications Ability of scientific evaluation of extension programs Ability to design and implement training programs

5 Descriptive results about university abilities and skills related to entrepreneurship As noted, the abilities and skills that acquired by agricultural extension and education students during their specialized courses were listed in Table 2. Then, both the students and the graduates were asked to rate these abilities in terms of a five point scales (very low=1, low=2, moderate=3, high=4, and very high=5). In order to determine the significance of each variable, the ranking mean values were calculated for both two groups of the students and the graduates. Among the abilities and skills affecting entrepreneurship, ability to teach informal courses, ability to start business in rural areas, and ability to search and collect data via the Internet were ranked by the graduates' group as the most important abilities about entrepreneurship. While the students of Agricultural Extension and Education ranked the ability to search and collect data via the Internet, the ability to estimate costs for designing and implementing the educational curricula, and ability to design lesson plans as the most important abilities and skills in creating entrepreneurship for the student Results from comparing the perceptions of the students and the graduates In order to compare the perceptions of two groups of the respondents about both entrepreneurship features and abilities, Mann Whitney Test was used. As shown in Table (3) there was only significant difference between the perceptions of two mentioned groups about entrepreneurship features. This means that the perceptions of the students differ from the graduates about entrepreneurship features. the result also showed no significant difference between both female and male respondents about entrepreneurship abilities.this means that entrepreneurship abilities among both females and males are similarly important. Sig. Table 3. Comparing the perceptions of the students and the graduates Mann- Ranking mean Comparing Variables Whitney Students Graduates * Entrepreneurship features male female Entrepreneurship features Entrepreneurship abilities Results of grouping entrepreneurship abilities In order to reduce numbers of variables related to entrepreneurship abilities within agricultural extension and education credits as well as classify the variables into key factors a factor analysis process was used. Calculations showed that the internal consistency of the data was suitable for using this technique (KMO=0.816) and Bartlett's test was significant at the 0.1 level. In this study, five factors were extracted with an eigenvalue greater than one. The results have been shown in Table 4 along with the values of percentage of the variance, eigenvalue, and cumulative percentage of variance. Table 4. factors extracted with eigenvalues, percentage of variance and cumulative percentage of variance Cumulative percentage of variance Percentage of the variance Eigenvalue Factor Factor Factor Factor Factor Factor 5 These five factors could explain 61.55% of the total variables' variance. For factor rotation, a varimax method was used. The result of this varimax rotation has been shown in Table

6 Table 5. Variables related to entrepreneurship abilities and the factor loadings from the rotated matrix. Load Variables Factor Factor Ability of scientific evaluation of extension programs Ability to design and implement training programs Ability to estimate costs of designing and implementing training programs Design lesson plans Ability of program designing Designing modular training programs and planning Ability to communicate and work with village leaders Ability to conduct needs assessment projects in villages Ability to manage and plan educational and extension courses Skill in applying the individual teaching techniques Ability to make training videos and films for farmers and rural Ability to create and publish posters and print media Ability to prepare a poster paper Ability to write paper for journals and newspapers Poster design and develop with computer software Ability to make training videos and films for farmers and rural Ability to search and collect data via Internet Ability to start rural businesses Ability to prepare and organize the content of training programs Ability to planning extension programs Ability to teach informal classroom Mass and group teaching skills and techniques Ability to produce radio and television programs related to Extension Ability to set up and carry out research projects Knowledge of the rules about NGOs and Cooperatives CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Ability to produce education and extension media Ability of information technology Ability to teach ability to start a business Students and graduates of agricultural extension and education require various features and abilities for future success in obtaining jobs especially in the private and NGOs sectors. One of the most important these abilities are entrepreneurial abilities which the students should take them through university and academic courses. Other reason for considering the entrepreneurial abilities important is the complicated situation of employment in the country. This study sought to identify entrepreneurship features and abilities which the students and the graduates may take these abilities from the university programs and curricula for better employment. Accordingly, some of the necessity features were reviewed for becoming an entrepreneur from viewpoint of both the students and the graduates. Creativity and innovation, willingness to work, confidence, risk taking, work ethics, and work courage were identified as the most important characteristics for becoming an entrepreneur and a self-employed person for the agricultural extension and education students and graduates. According to the results, the agricultural extension and education students learn different abilities through university specialized courses. The results of this research showed that some of these abilities can contribute the students create new job opportunities or be self-employed. These abilities were the ability to search and collect data via the Internet, the ability to estimate the costs of designing and implementing training programs, ability to design lesson plans, ability to teach and hold informal courses, and ability to start-up the rural businesses. Therefore it is recommended that the teachers of extension specialized courses emphasis on these abilities by both individual and group projects and assignments. The results also showed that the total entrepreneurship abilities and skills of the agricultural extension and education students can be fallen into five categories include, 1) ability to design the extension-education courses, 2) ability to produce the extension-education media, 3) ability in educational and information technology, 4) ability to teach extension-education courses, and 5) ability to start-up the business related to agriculture. It is therefore recommended that the agricultural students especially on the extension and education major be trained so that they acquire the entrepreneurial abilities in order to both solve their employment problems and assist to applicability of the extension and education curricula when they graduate from the university. REFERENCES Bazargan A Internal Evaluation as an Approach to Revitalize University Systems: the Case of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Higher Education Policy, 13 (2):

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