PERCEPTION AND ATTITUDES OF PRINCE ABUBAKAR AUDU UNIVERSITY STUDENTS TOWARD CAREER IN FASHION DESIGNING

The upsurge in the rate of unemployment in Nigeria has given rise to the need for a shift in attention to the fashion industry. In recent experience, unemployment has pushed people to think entrepreneurship and the creation of one’s own business as the only alternative for survival by people irrespective of their educational background. It is in the light of this, that this study examined the perception and attitudes of students in Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Kogi State Nigeria, towards career in fashion designing and job creation. The study objectives included a cursory look into the perception and attidutes of the students towards fashion designing as a career, ascertaining the socioeconomic benefits of fashion designing as a means of job creation and an identification of the challenges associated with fashion designing as a career. The study adopted survey research design with the sample size of 377 from the total population of  23, 927 students using Krejcie and Morgan statistical table, while Schumpeter’s Innovation theory was used to justify the place of fashion designing as a career. Questionnaire and in-depth interview were used as instruments of primary data collection with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) V. 20 and content analysis as tools of data analysis. Findings from the study revealed amongst others, that a significant number of Prince Abubakar Audu University students had a high level of perceptions towards fashion designing as they showed interest in the career in fashion designing, and that they as well had a positive attitude towards it while some of them reported that they go for training frequently during the holidays. The study also revealed that choosing a career in fashion design can help create jobs and reduce the rate of unemployment in the society and thereby contributing to the growth of the Nation’s economy because fashion designers are job creators and not job seekers. It further identified that there are certain challenges faced by Prince Abubakar Audu University Students who were interested in choosing fashion designing as a career such as lack of capital amongst others, and concluded that "fashionpreneur” as a lucrative business has the capacity to reduce unemployment in Nigeria and Kogi State in particular if it is properly explored into. Therefore, it was recommended amongst others that school authorities should sponsor empowerment programmes in the school and likewise the government at all levels should provide grant and soft loans for students fashionpreneurs and fashion designers to help their innovativeness in the career. Keywords: Perception, Attitudes, Career, Fashion Design, Undergraduates, University.