Entrepreneurship Management Educational Needs of Agricultural Students at Faculties of Agriculture, West of Iran

Skills and information presented by formal agricultural education for successful performance of agricultural graduates at work are insufficient; therefore one of the basic changes in educational programs of agricultural universities is entrepreneurship education program to be included in the curriculum. Entrepreneurship education should be designed based on the educational needs of students. Need assessment causes proportion of educational needs and educational programs. Accordingly، the purpose of this study was to determine educational needs of agricultural students in relation to entrepreneurship management as perceived by agricultural faculty members، as well as، by students of agricultural faculties in the West of Iran using Borich Need Assessment model and Quadrant Analysis. The statistical population consisted of agricultural faculty members and students of agricultural faculties in the West of Iran. Using ranking random sampling، 200 students and 50 faculty members were selected using krejcie and morgan table. This study is conducted in 2 phases، in the first phase of the study، educational needs of the students identified as perceived by them using questionnaire. Result revealed 56 educational topics with high priority were the educational needs. The top three needs were new idea creation of production and services، development of business plan and determination of several market sectors. In the second phase of the study، Quadrant Analysis was conducted in order to identify common needs as perceived by faculty members and students. Quadrant analysis revealed that most educational needs prioritized by students were also ranked high by faculty members.