Barriers of Entrepreneurship Education Courses Delivering in Agricultural Applied Scientific Education Centers (AASECs); Case of Fars Province, Iran

Abstract

Entrepreneurship courses had a tremendous potential to improve the knowledge and skills of the<br />students in Agricultural Applied-Scientific Education Centers (AASECs) to make a business after<br />graduating. This study was designed to analyze barriers of entrepreneurship education courses<br />delivering in AASECs in Fars Province. The population of the study consisted of all 1018 students in<br />four AASECs in Fars province (Shiraz, Jahrom, Aliabad Kamin & Marvdasht) in 2010-11 academic<br />year. A multi-stage stratified random sampling was applied to select 178 students as samples research.<br />The instrument for collecting data was a questionnaire, which its validity was confirmed by a panel of<br />experts. In addition, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated (α= 0.89) that confirmed the<br />reliability of the scale used in the study. The factor analysis results showed that, weakness in<br />supportive and counseling services (19.50%), inadequate of applied education (17.89%), inadequate of<br />recognizing of financial and management regulation (11.94%) and weakness in educational planning<br />(11.67%) were the main obstacles in delivering of entrepreneurship education courses in AASECs in<br />the Fars province. These four factors could explain 61.1% variance of the obstacle variable.