Income Sustainability Of Private Universities In A Sub-Saharan African Country: Ghana

Abstract

Tertiary institutions, both public and private, play a vital role in global socio-economic development through the production of human capacity. However, an area of research that has gotten relatively little academic attention in the Ghanaian higher education milieu is private universities' strategic responses to their financial sustainability. The purpose of this study, which used an exploratory research methodology, was to examine the various sources of income generation by private universities and strategic responses adopted to sustain their financing in Ghana. With an incorporated case study design, the study used a qualitative research methodology. The main findings, which were supported by data from semi-structured interviews conducted in five private universities and documentary evidence, showed that the primary source of pressure on private tertiary institutions comes from the limited funding that prevents them from achieving their missions. The findings also showed that private universities had taken certain strategic steps to counteract the effects of their restricted funding. The options highlighted included sustaining tuition fees through an aggressive admission strategy, income diversification strategy by expanding non-traditional sources of income, commercialising, and research. For the universities, cost-cutting through increased budgetary efficiency also represented a more important strategy. Although private universities in Ghana continue to haphazardly rely on inadequate funding, the survey found that they are actively engaged in numerous varied and alternative income-generating activities in order to survive.