Digital Skills and Entrepreneurial Capability of Graduates in Nigerian Public University

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between digital skills and entrepreneurial capability of graduates at the University of Lagos. The study adopted a descriptive correlational research design. Seven hypotheses were formulated and tested. The study’s population was composed of 12,920 graduates of the University of Lagos for the 2021/2022 academic session. A multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted for the study. At the first stage, the sample size of 388 was ascertained using the Taro Yamane formula. Afterwards, based on the existing stratification by programmes, the proportionate sampling technique was used to select 57 participants from the Distance Learning Institute, 206 participants from undergraduate, 2 participants from the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) and 123 participants from postgraduate studies. In addition, the 388 participants were purposively selected based on their involvement in entrepreneurial practices. A researcher-constructed, validated and reliable instrument (r=0.88) was used for data collection. Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to test the hypotheses at the .05 significance level. According to the study, indicators of entrepreneurial capability and digital skills were significantly correlated. The study found that there was a significant relationship between digital skills and entrepreneurial capability indicators. Based on these findings, the following recommendations, among many others, were made: universities should integrate digital entrepreneurship training into academic programmes; universities should promote digital career pathways through workshops, online freelancing seminars, and mentorship schemes that connect students with self-employment opportunities in the digital space; and universities should introduce a compulsory 1-2 unit course on digital marketing strategy across all faculties to build students’ marketing acumen for business growth.