Al-Hikmah University Journal

Skill acquisition in entrepreneurship is a derivative of entrepreneurial learning which promotes functional unemployment reduction through university education. However, universities have turned to producers of unemployed graduates instead of job creators in the face of high rate of global unemployment. This is due to the exhibition of negative attitude towards entrepreneurship which originated from low exposure to internship. This study investigated the effect of internship on attitude towards entrepreneurship among students of Federal universities in South-West, Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design. The population comprised 24,282 four hundred level undergraduates in six (6) Federal Universities in South-West, Nigeria. The sample size of 1,673 was obtained using Krejcie and Morgan formula. Stratified random sampling technique was adopted in selecting the respondents. A validated structured questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients for the constructs ranging from 0.73 to 0.95 was employed in the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential (Linear) statistics. Findings revealed that internship had a significant effect on attitude towards entrepreneurship skill acquisition (R2 = 0.194, t(1671) =20.043, β = 0.829, p<0.05). The study concluded that positive attitude towards entrepreneurshipwas promoted through internship. The study suggest that government, academia and the society should focus on measures that would promote undergraduates’ internship and the use of appropriate pedagogy in teaching entrepreneurship.