The impact of entrepreneurship education and training on entrepreneurial intentions of consumer sciences’ graduates of Uniswa

Swaziland’s high unemployment rate challenges its development and one coping strategy has been identified as the production of small and medium enterprises. With one third of Swaziland’s labour force unemployed in 2008, amongst them were the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) graduates from the Faculty of Agriculture (FOA). The problem of graduates’ unemployment led to the FOA’s introduction of entrepreneurship education so as to impart entrepreneurial personality, knowledge and skills in training its graduates. A descriptive survey research was conducted to determine the impact of the Entrepreneurship course on attitudes of Consumer Sciences (COS) graduates. The instrument with both close-ended and open-ended questions was validated and pilot-tested with a reliability coefficient of 0.788 obtained. Random selection and snowballing technique were used for sample selection of fifty 2010-2012 COS graduates. Study results showed that respondents had a positive attitude towards the Entrepreneurship course, although they felt there was a major need for improvement on the Entrepreneurial Project. The majority of respondents were not involved in business, which could probably be due to lack of determination and interest for business; and, perhaps failure of the Entrepreneurship course and Entrepreneurial Project to impart into the respondents those vital entrepreneurial skills and attributes during the training period. Recommendations are that a similar study be done with graduates from all departments of the Faculty of Agriculture for more conclusive findings.