Engineering Students’ Innovation Competence: A Comparative Analysis of Nigeria and South Africa

The main purpose of this study is to assess the role of tertiary institutions in impacting innovation competence among graduating students in the engineering discipline. To achieve this aim, two research questions were investigated: First, we examine if the graduating students possess some key innovative competence qualities innovative competence which include qualities such as creativity, leadership, self-efficacy, energy and risk propensity. Secondly, we investigate the key elements of tertiary institutions that impact innovative competence among the graduating students. A structured questionnaire was administered to graduating engineering students at the Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria and University of Johannesburg, South Africa during the 2019/2020 academic session and their responses were compared. Results indicate that students generally had a high assessment of their innovation competence and attributed some of this competence to their institutions learning environment.