Role of Counselling in Promoting Edupreneurship among Students as Perceived by Counsellors in Kwara State

Abstract

One of the main forces behind innovation and economic expansion is students' entrepreneurial spirit. Students' lives and the larger community can be profoundly changed by empowering them to become edupreneurs. Fostering an edupreneurship culture among students is crucial in today's rapidly evolving economy, marked by globalization, technological advancements, and shifting workforce dynamics. This will allow them to acquire the knowledge, abilities, and mindset needed to thrive in a world that is becoming more complex and competitive. Research on the function of counselling in encouraging student entrepreneurship is still lacking. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to find out how counsellors in Kwara State felt about counselling's contribution to student entrepreneurship. A self-developed questionnaire form was used to gather data from 150 counselors as part of a survey study design. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that counselors thought counselling greatly encouraged students to become edupreneurs (mean = 4.2, SD = 0.6). Counseling and edupreneurship promotion were found to be significantly positively correlated (r = 0.75, p < 0.01). To encourage students to become edupreneurs, it is advised that counselling programs be incorporated into school curricula. Workshops and conferences on innovation, business planning, and entrepreneurial skills should be used to train counsellors. To encourage economic growth and development, counsellors should specifically offer edupreneurship counselling services to students, such as career advising, the development of entrepreneurial skills, company concept generating, and venture creation help.