Okonkwo, who made the decision on the fifteenth convocation ceremony of Veritas University, Abuja, advocated the mixing of entrepreneurship schooling into all educational departments, together with medication, regulation, engineering and the sciences.
He stated the nation’s greater schooling system should transfer past the award of certificates to equipping students with the data, abilities and mindset required to turn into self-reliant and contribute meaningfully to nationwide growth.
According to him, medical students must be geared up with the entrepreneurial data to set up non-public practices, whereas regulation graduates ought to perceive the enterprise alternatives inside their occupation.
He additionally urged researchers to think about the business viability of their improvements, noting that analysis outcomes able to attracting buyers would assist universities rework discoveries into sensible options.
In an announcement he signed, Prof Okonkwo stated, “The entrepreneurship I am advocating should not just be a by-pass discipline. It should be a core subject that must be made available to all the students in every department.
“So, if you are studying medicine, you are thinking of entrepreneurship for medicine. What if tomorrow you want to be a private practitioner? If you are going to law school, even if in the science department, these researchers will be able to think of the entrepreneurial aspect of their research outcome,” he stated.
He suggested universities to put together graduates to turn into self-employed and employers of labour slightly than rely solely on the supply of paid employment, arguing that the standard of schooling shouldn’t be measured merely by the variety of graduates produced however by the data, abilities, ethical values and sense of duty they purchase.
“I am a professor of entrepreneurship, so I am not just in the theory aspect; I am also in the practice. I have seen the ups and downs and different things happen.
“If you are in school and you are able to have an idea of how things work in the business world, that is why, after my first and second degrees with first-class distinction, I have never been an employed person after my graduation. I had set up my business even while I was in school,” he stated.
Okonkwo, nevertheless, acknowledged that entrepreneurship was not essentially the profession path for each graduate, including that he was prepared to information students focused on establishing companies.
He additionally advocated stronger collaboration between universities and industries, notably via internship programmes that expose students to sensible expertise earlier than commencement.
He described internships as crucial to bridging the hole between classroom studying and office calls for, disclosing that his convocation lecture on entrepreneurship schooling at one other college had been adopted as a coverage doc, with a committee established to examine its suggestions and decide how they may very well be applied throughout universities.
Congratulating the graduating students, he urged them to leverage the data and expertise acquired on the college to pursue their skilled aspirations and contribute to society.
