Impact of technical education and vocational training for Sri Lanka IT entrepreneurship development

Abstract

In general terms an entrepreneur is known as a person who starts a new business venture. There are many definitions for the word “entrepreneur”. According to the Oxford Dictionary an entrepreneur is “one who undertakes an enterprise, especially a contractor - acting as intermediary between capital and labor” As a developing country, Sri Lanka has a vital responsibility to strengthen the economy to strive towards development and maintain the sustainability of development. Entrepreneurship development has been recognized as an important strategic sector for generating high economic growth and reducing unemployment and poverty in Sri Lanka. The Technical Educational and Vocational Training (TEVT) system represents the backbone of all industrial activity. The TEVT sector within the education sector is specifically responsible for providing technical and skilled manpower to industry. The Department of Technical Education and Training (DTET) is a major component for Technical Educational and Vocational Training. This study is focused on analyzing the impact of Technical Education and Vocational Training for Sri Lankan IT entrepreneurship development. The main objective of this research is to investigate the internal influential factors that affect an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Entrepreneur from the DTET. Further, it identifies the situation that the DTET has on ICT entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka and attempts to identify opportunities for improving the recognized internal factors which have an effect on producing entrepreneurs. The conceptual framework was designed such that it consists of four independent variables and a dependent variable. The data was gathered by distributing questionnaires among the students and the academic staff in the Colleges of Technology which conduct ICT courses. Data was gathered separately for the variables. The research findings revealed that personal capabilities necessary to become an entrepreneur could no longer be considered as an influential factor promoting the development of ICT entrepreneurship. Course curricula, infrastructure facilities and career guidance and counselling support are influential factors in the DTET which promote ICT entrepreneurship development.