Abstract:
The higher education institutions in Nigeria are witnessing a number of challenges such as
insufficient funding, quality, access, governance, information communication technology, graduate
unemployment and underemployment, lack of outreach to the society (Williams et al. 2003, Salmi
2001, Fourie 2003, Akinyemi et al. 2012). There is therefore need for the institutions with capacity to
be run using ‘entrepreneurial university model’ in order that these challenges may be addressed.
Questionnaires and unstructured interviews were used as primary source of data collection which
were administered on officers holding strategic positons in higher educational institutions in
Anambra State, Nigeria. The quantitative data were analyzed using percentage means. This paper
aims to identify the current state of higher education institutions in Anambra State, Nigeria and
potential areas of actions in order to reorient the ones with capacity towards institutional and
cultural change needed in becoming entrepreneurial university thereby solving the challenges of HEIs
in the country. The result of the survey revealed that the two federal government owned institutions
are in better position to be reoriented and restructured as entrepreneurial universities as their
cumulative mean percentage are better than other institutions. The institutions are in the initial stage
of entrepreneurial university as their mean percentage on almost all variables are below average. The
institutions needs to drive the entrepreneurship agenda from the top management creating the
necessary ecosystem that will facilitate the growth of variables needed in becoming entrepreneurial
university. The government need to enable the necessary policies that the institutions need to become
entrepreneurial universities
