Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in developing entrepreneurial intentions among students in HEIs in Blantyre District of Malawi. A mixed method approach consisting of quantitative and qualitative methods was employed. In total 60 participants were purposively sampled for the study of which 42 responded to the questionnaire that was administered. This represents a response rate of 70%. Data collection was conducted through structured questionnaires to all respondents. The results indicate that there is a significant effect of educating students in entrepreneurship and this effect is on their intentions tobecome entrepreneurs in HEIs in Blantyre District. The length of an entrepreneurship education moderated this effect. The respondents who were self-employed after completing their entrepreneurship education and training had a lower entrepreneurial intention at the beginning of the programme compared to the respondents who had not become self-employed. An analysis of the development of entrepreneurial intention after the end of the entrepreneurship programme showed that after the end of the programme, entrepreneurial intentions had increased significantly. Thus, education and training in entrepreneurship is established to be a trigger that positively impacts entrepreneurial intention.

Key words: Entrepreneur, entrepreneurship education, learning, entrepreneurial mindset, entrepreneurial intention.