Entrepreneurial Education in Middle-Level Tertiary Colleges in the Rift Valley of Kenya

Abstract

This study adds to the knowledge base of Entrepreneurial Education (EE) in selected technical training institutes in Kenya. Using qualitative research inquiry, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a question guidebook and follow-up questioning. Data were collected from students, instructors, and administrators selected through purposive sampling. Open and axial coding was used to categorize the transcribed interview responses. Peer review was used to ensure credibility and confirmability. The results reveals that the learning institutions prepared students as entrepreneurs through coursework, mandatory field internships, internal projects, participation in agricultural and business fairs, and providing startup capital for cooperative shops. EE delivery faces numerous constraints including inadequate start-up capital, inadequate access to land, and output and input market resulting from poor infrastructure, competition, lack of marketing skills, and exam-oriented curricula. Dairy, horticulture, poultry, and apiculture enterprises were identified as the most promising and viable enterprises for graduates of middlelevel tertiary institutions. In conclusion, EE was being offered in these institutions as certificate courses or integrated as a topic in their existing curricula. In order to improve upon the delivery of the programs, the institutions needed to upgrade learning facilities, incorporating ICT in the curricula, enhance practical learning, conduct rigorous follow-up evaluations of graduates, and establish business incubators for providing start-up capital to graduates.

Nilai Keyakinan Diri dan Sikap Pemuda Terdidik terhadap Wirausaha Pertanian

“…Beberapa komoditas hortikultura yang diusahakan yaitu jamur tiram, jamur kuping, sayuran, buah-buahan, tanaman hias, dan tanaman obat. Responden yang pada umumnya memilih usaha produksi hortikultura dimungkinkan dikarenakan sebagian besarnya menilai bahwa usaha produksi hortikutura lebih mudah dan profitable untuk dilakukan, Prosiding Seminar Nasional Pembangunan dan Pendidikan Vokasi Pertanian Politeknik Pembangunan Pertanian Manokwari, 14 November 2020 e ISSN : 2774-1982 sebagaimana dilaporkan Lawver et al (2018) dalam penelitiannya terhadap mahasiswa, bahwa hortikultura disepakati merupakan salah satu bidang usaha yang dipilih karena merupakan yang paling menjanjikan dalam memulai wirausaha pertanian.…”

Students’ attitude towards agricultural entrepreneurship in selected vocational colleges in Indonesia

“…Thus, to form an attitude, information access regarding the object of attitude is highly required. Access to information about the object of attitude can be provided by various sources or means, such as schools (Lawver, 2018), mass media and the internet (Mathew, 2015;Adebayo aan Kavoos, 2016). Access to information on agricultural entrepreneurship was defined as the ease of obtaining various information about agricultural entrepreneurship through the learning process at schools, reading various print media, watching television programmes, reading articles and news, watching various videos on the Internet, and exchanging information through social media.…”