The Dean of the Faculty of Education, Kwara State University, Professor Titus Amodu Umoru has called on the authority of the National Universities Commission (NUC) to as a matter of urgency approve a B. Sc. (Ed.) programme in Entrepreneurship Education.
Prof. Umoru made call in his inaugural lecture titled “Business Education and Technology: Unlocking the Potentials of Man for Sustainable National Development”, held on Wednesday (January 18, 2023) at the KWASU.
Umoru who was the 10th inaugural lecturer of the University however noted that the establishment of B.Sc. (Ed.) Entrepreneurship Education would bridge the gap currently existing in the teaching of entrepreneurship education in both primary and secondary schools.
“This is to catch them young and will enable those that may not make it to higher education to have entrepreneurship skills to enter into business and develop the country”
He also identified Business Education and Vocational Education as potent tools for unlocking the potentials of the youth, saying that if the two programmes are properly harnessed and fortified with entrepreneurship, it will ultimately accelerate sustainable national development both in Nigeria and beyond.
Prof. Umoru presenting the 10th inaugural lecture of the University
The Faculty of Education Dean also appealed to the Federal Government to ensure that teacher education be fully funded by providing the needed facilities, taking over student Industrial Work Experience Scheme,teaching practice and offering scholarships to business education students.
Professor Umoru also recommended that teaching in Nigerian universities should be inspirational and student-centred by teachers implementing values-based curriculum so that planned learning experiences can scaffold students to imbibe the desired values.
“As my findings show, values-based curriculum enables students become academically diligent and the schools assume a calmness, more peaceful ambience thereby producing the desired graduates” he said.
He also recommended that a teacher qualification of Postgraduate Diploma in Education should be made compulsory for University lecturers while business lecturers should acquire Postgraduate Diploma in Business Education.
“This is because successful teaching depends on preparation and any preparation that does not take into cognizance the three domains of learning, i.e., cognitive, affective, and psychomotor utilizing technology and a constructivist pedagogy which is normally a suitable epistemological paradigm for designing a course unit being taught, is unlikely to elicit the desired learning outcomes” he added.
According to him, “Kwara State University being a Green University for Community Development and Entrepreneurship, should strengthen its education about entrepreneurship, education for entrepreneurship, and education in enterprise and also be responsive to communities through community-based initiatives that will elevate the power of community-university partnership”.
Professor Umoru also called on the University management to as a matter of principle approve virtual lectures to enable students and lecturers have more robust and effective interaction, even as he called on the University to implement what he called ‘Bring Your Own Device’ (BYOD) policy as it would increase students engagement and participation in personal learning.
In his opening address shortly before the lecture, the Ag. Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Shaykh Lukman Jimoh described Prof. Umoru as a thoroughbred academic who has done the University proud through his immeasurable contributions to the body of knowledge both nationally and internationally.
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