Dissertation (MA Educational Management and Administration)
The study explored Students’ Perceptions of Entrepreneurial Career Practice for Self Employment Creation in Tanzania. The study was guided by three objectives namely to explore students’ perceptions of entrepreneurial career practice, to identify the motives for venturing into entrepreneurial career practice, to examine the influence of higher education on students’ engagement in self-employment after graduation. The study employed mixed convergent design while mixed research approach was used. The data were collected through questionnaire, interview and focus group discussion. A total sample size of 294 respondents was used for the study which included 289 undergraduate students from seven colleges and 05 students who were studying while engaging in entrepreneurship activities at the University of Dodoma. Quantitave data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and factor analysis by the help of SPSS Version 26 while qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Study findings indicate that students perceived positively the practice of entrepreneurship within their prospective careers soon after graduation. Correspondingly, unemployment, self-motivation and opportunities emerged as the motives for venturing into entrepreneurial career practice. Further, higher education appeared to enable students to engage in self-employment activities. Nonetheless, the study uncovered that entrepreneurship education was not offered as the major learning area among non-business students. The study has implications for policy regarding criteria for disbursing youth loans. There is also need for establishing entrepreneurial incubation centers and improvement of organization for entrepreneurship development. Finally, Entrepreneurship course should be engaged or incorporated to all programs at the university level so as to create an entrepreneurial society. Therefore, Future investigation should focus on start ups and development among non-business graduates because it will enable policy makers and other development stakeholders to channel and intensify initiatives for promoting self-employment.