Education is an instrument per excellence for national development. Business education is one of the programs run in about 117 universities in Nigeria. It was believed that business education has the capacity to bring about the required development since it is a course of instruction aimed at inculcating in the youth the skills, attitudes and competencies which are necessary to empower them to be gainfully engaged so that they will be useful citizens and contribute to the development of Nigeria and the society. However, there seemed to be gaps between the nations educational objectives and their realization. The obvious indicators to this fact are poor skills of graduates who cannot fit into the office of today, unemployment, poverty and underdevelopment of the country. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) where properly utilized is capable of making the difference in empowering the students with the needed skills, attitudes and competencies. This study explored the barriers to the use of ICTs in teaching and learning business education. The researcher constructed 15 questionnaire items from research reports relevant to the study. The questionnaire was validated using Cronbach Alpha which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.78. A total of 256 questionnaire items were administered to 202 business educators and 54 students of business education respectively from Universities offering business education in Nigeria and all of which were completed and retrieved. The Research Question what are the barriers to the use of ICTs in teaching and learning business education in Nigeria? was answered using mean rating and standard deviation. The Hypothesis of no significant difference in the mean responses of business educators and business education students from universities regarding barriers to the use of ICTs in teaching and learning business education was tested using student T-test. The study revealed that all the constructs, except one, constituted barriers to the use of ICTs in teaching and learning business education in Nigeria universities. it was concluded that the revealed barriers be tackled by the government, the university authorities, the teachers and the students so that the university environment would be repositioned to play its role of empowering the youth with the skills, attitude and competencies needed for Nigerias development.

The study examined the extent of the influence of teacher competencies and instructional strategies utilization for skill acquisition of office technology and management students in polytechnics in South-Western Nigeria. The study adopted descriptive survey design. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study consisted of 152 lecturers and instructors in all the accredited polytechnics in South-Western Nigeria. There was no sampling since the population was manageable. The data for the study was collected through questionnaire which was duly validated by three experts. With the use of Cronbach Alpha Reliability Test (CART), the reliability co-efficient calculated for the study was found to be 0.868 which indicated that the instrument for the study was reliable. Mean and standard deviation were the tools used to analyze the research questions while the hypotheses were tested using independent t-test statistics at 0.05 level of significance. The study found that teaching competencies has positive influence on skill acquisition among OTM students in polytechnics to a great extent. Based on these findings, it was concluded that lecturers are competent in teaching relevant skills to the students in polytechnics. It was therefore, recommended, among others, that the Lecturers should be trained and retrained in order to keep them abreast and competent with the current trends in curriculum and instruction of OTM courses and for effective service delivery.

Abstract:The study centered on m-learning utilization challenges, learning purposes and benefits for improved business education outcomes in Nigerian Universities. The study identified 33 critical challenges, purposes and benefits of m-learning utilization that affect business education outcomes. The research question "what are the m-learning utilization challenges, learning purposes and benefits for improved business education outcomes in Nigerian Universities?" was answered. One hypothesis "significant difference does not exist between students and teachers' responses regarding m-learning utilization challenges, learning purposes and benefits for improved business education outcomes in Nigerian Universities" was tested. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. M-learning Utilization Challenges, Purposes and Benefits Questionnaire (MUCPBQ) was used to gather data for the study. Cronbach Alpha was used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.74. The questionnaire items were administered on 281 teachers and 262 students who are registered members of the Association of Business Educators of Nigeria. All the respondents completed and returned their questionnaire. The data collected to answer the research question were analyzed using mean and standard deviation and the hypothesis was tested using one way Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. It was found that m-learning devices have utilization challenges, learning purposes and benefits and there was no significant difference between teachers and students' responses regarding m-learning utilization challenges, learning purposes and benefits for improved business education outcomes in Nigerian Universities (F (1, 541) = 1.67, P= 0.173). It was recommended, among others, that students, teachers and concerned university authorities should embrace the opportunities offered by m-learning devices by ensuring their effective utilization so that the challenges of utilizing m-learning devices would be overcome and the required business education outcomes achieved.

The study examined the perceived influence of business environment on the success of small and medium-scale enterprises in Osun State, Nigeria. The main purpose of the study is to determine the influence of business environment on the success of small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). The study adopted descriptive survey research design. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study comprised all registered small and medium scale enterprises in Osun State. Two hundred and fifty-five (255) owners/managers of small and medium-scale enterprises were sampled for the study through, proportionate, stratified and systematic random sampling techniques. The instrument for data collection was “Perceived Influence of Business Environment on the Success of SMEs” Questionnaire (PIBESSMEQ). A reliability co-efficient of 0.70 was obtained using Cronbach Alpha. Mean and standard deviation was used to answer the research questions while hypotheses were tested using analysis of variance (ANOVA) at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study revealed that business environment influenced the success of SMES to a high extent. Also, the study revealed that no significant difference existed in the influence of business environment on SMEs success in term of their location. Based on the findings, it was concluded that SMEs’ success could be better guaranteed with sufficient knowledge of the business environment. The study among others recommended that owners/managers of SMEs should always endeavor to increase their knowledge and skills to a maximum level in order to surmount challenges relating to business environment.

The study examined the challenges of the realisation of a world-class university at Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria. Two research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated for the study. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 1,078 lecturers out of which 245 lecturers were sampled. Challenges of the Realization of World-class University Questionnaire (CRSWUQ) constructed by the researchers were used for data collection for the study. Percentage was used to answer the research questions while Mann Whitney U-test was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed among others that: world class status of a university is simply about the international recognition of the university. A world class university has world class departments, diversified sources of income, sound financial base and always benchmarked with top universities world-wide. Lack of physical infrastructure which is obviously the most visible part of the university, the pressure of publish or perish culture which undermines the quality of research and absence of public financial support are some of the challenges that could hinder the world-class status of Kwara State University. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the state government, KWASU management, academic staff and the entire university community should work together to overcome the identified challenges that could hinder the realization of a world class status of KWASU.