EXPLORING STRATEGIC RESPONSES TO CHANGES IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITY FUNDING IN GHANA: A CASE STUDY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA (UG) AND THE UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, WINNEBA (UEW)

Abstract

Public HEIs’ response strategies to the dwindling public funding in Ghana is an area of study that has received relatively little academic attention in the Ghanaian HE milieu. As a result, this thesis aims to contribute to both the theoretical and the practical discussions on the strategic actions adopted by public universities when faced with environmental pressures like public funding in Ghana which has undergone series of gradual but all in all major changes in recent times. It explores how the Ghanaian HE funding model has also evolved over time and how public universities like the University of Ghana and the University of Education, Winneba perceive and respond to it. It is a qualitative study with an embedded multiple case study design. The study also adopts Oliver’s (1991) strategic response to institutional process as the analytical framework for the study. Using data from semi-structured interviews in two public universities and documentary evidence, the main findings reveal that the major source of HE institutional pressures emanates from a decrease in public funding which inhibits proper planning and the delivery of teaching, learning, and research. The findings also indicate that the HEIs have as a response implemented certain strategic actions to mitigate the impacts of the institutional pressure. Those actions identified include the enhancement of internationally generated Funds (IGFs) activities through the increment of tuition fees, the expansion of non-traditional sources of income generating activities, commercialization of research and educational services and the enhancement of university autonomy through acts of parliament. Reducing cost through efficiency and marketing also assumed greater strategies for the universities. The patterns of responses to the institutional pressures identified suggest a mix of Acquiescence, compromise and avoidance to the decreasing state funding pressure. The study concludes that although the HEIs continue to depend haplessly on the limited public funding, they are also actively involved in other diversified and alternative income generating activities where their institutional leaders have a greater influence in relation to attracting the required funding from the state. Responding and managing institutional pressures and in this context, public funding decline is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges for Ghanaian public HEIs in recent times.