PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTICES: “A STUDY OF SELECTED PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN GHANA”

Abstract

It is a well- known fact that private universities have been rendering important services to the nation but the public seems not to have understood the role and mission of the private universities and consider them as an avenue for money making by admitting students who do not make the entry requirements to public universities and also employ unqualified personnel. In view of this, the private universities are being perceived negatively and this perception has affected their image in Ghana, thereby calling for an effective public relations department to correct this negative perception. The objectives of the study were to investigate public relations practices in private universities in Ghana and to identify the challenges faced by the public relations unit of private universities. Personal interview, using an interview guide, was used to collect data from public relations managers and staff of three private universities in Ghana. The study revealed that public relations do not perform their roles effectively in the private universities because they lack qualified staff and logistics to enable them perform effectively. The findings again showed that public relations units of the private universities were not represented at the council which is the highest decision-making body in the universities to enable them disseminate timely management decisions to the university’s publics. The strategic implications of these findings are further highlighted in the paper.

Keywords: Public Relations practices, Private universities, Ghana