“Strategizing to Survive”: How Ghanaian Public Universities Strategically Respond to Public Funding Challenges

Abstract

Public universities strategic responses to the dwindling public funding in Ghana is an area of study that has received relatively little academic attention in the Ghanaian Higher Education (HE) milieu. This study, employing an exploratory research paradigm, sought to investigate the strategic actions taken by public universities in Ghana as a response to their public funding from the government which has undergone a series of gradual but significant changes in recent times. The study adopted a qualitative research approach with an embedded multiple case study design. Using data from semi-structured interviews in two public universities and documentary evidence, the main findings revealed that the major source of HE institutional pressures emanates from their limited and irregular public funding that inhibits their proper planning and the delivery of teaching, learning, and research. The results further indicated that the public universities as a response have implemented certain strategic actions to mitigate the effects of their limited public funding. The strategies identified included activities such as; revenue from diversified educational services, the expansion of non-traditional sources of income generating activities, and the commercialization of research. Reducing cost through better budgetary efficiency also assumed a greater strategy for the universities. The study revealed that, although the public universities continue to depend haplessly on the limited public funding, they are also actively involved in other diversified and alternative income generating activities in order to survive.

Keywords: Public Funding, Strategic Responses, Higher Education, Public Universities, Ghana