The role of the "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" course in developing the competencies of self-employment among university youth: a field study at the Faculty of Education - Alexandria University

Entrepreneurship is of great importance, which is reflected in the intrinsic importance of entrepreneurs themselves; as it contributes to individuals’ self-realization, developing their abilities, skills, and social communication, and their effective contribution to the development of their society. Entrepreneurship also enhances individuals’ capabilities through the possibility of transforming their creative ideas into a tangible reality that has effective results at both the individual and societal levels. Entrepreneurship also has cultural, economic, and social importance; through its primary role in changing the culture of society towards work and employment; which supports the culture of self-employment, and provides job opportunities for individuals to ensure their social self-realization, and raise their standard of living.
The Egyptian society is one of the societies that suffer from multiple and intertwined problems that affect the level of the economy and the labor market. Here, the responsibility falls on the educational system to prepare human resources for the economic system. Therefore, the interest in teaching entrepreneurship in universities has become a major requirement as an entry point for providing graduates with entrepreneurial knowledge and skills, and deepening the spirit of initiative and freelance work; which contributes to reducing the gap between educational institutions and the needs of the labor market; as teaching entrepreneurship works to provide job opportunities for young people; by developing the competencies of freelance work that enable them to improve the economy of society, develop it, and advance it. Universities can teach entrepreneurship by following a set of mechanisms; the most important of which is: including courses specific to entrepreneurship.
Based on this, Alexandria University took the initiative to introduce an entrepreneurship course as a graduation requirement for all university students of different specializations, starting from the academic year 2019/2020. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the reality of the role of the "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" course in developing the competencies of self-employment among students of the Faculty of Education - Alexandria University, and to reveal the shortcomings that prevent them from undertaking this role. To achieve this goal, the researcher used the descriptive approach and used the questionnaire to monitor the reality of the role of studying the course in this regard; through the responses of a random sample of students who registered for the "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" course at the Faculty of Education - Alexandria University in the academic year 2023/2024 in various specializations.
The study concluded that the course "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" - at the Faculty of Education, Alexandria University - contributes to the development of self-employment competencies to a moderate degree, which indicates the university's weak ability to create and build generations of entrepreneurs who lead local development. The most prominent features of the defect were identified, and the study reached a set of proposals through which the role of the course can be activated in developing self-employment competencies among students.