Empowering Future Entrepreneurs: Investigating University Students' Intentions in Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Graduates continue to face challenges finding full-time employment, often resorting to part-time or day jobs, and sometimes taking positions that do not match their qualifications, often with lower salaries. In other words, they struggle to find full-time employment that matches their educational qualifications upon graduation. Recognizing this issue, the Malaysian government has taken proactive measures to encourage entrepreneurial mindset and equip graduates with the necessary entrepreneurial skills so that they can be more resourceful and self-reliant in creating their own opportunities. This paper investigates University of Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) students' intention to pursue entrepreneurship. The research sample includes 420 UMT students from various academic disciplines, all enrolled in the basic entrepreneurship course. Data will be analysed using descriptive, correlational and multiple regression analyses using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The results show a positive correlation between students' intentions and multiple regression analysis and demonstrate a strong relationship with various factors that influence students' entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, these results suggest that universities can improve the employability of their graduates by increasing their students' engagement in entrepreneurial activities.