Funding of infrastructural facilities in public universities in Ghana

Abstract

The study explored funding of infrastructural facilities in Ghanaian public universities along the lines of opportunities for funding, adequacy of funds, areas that institutions prioritise for funding and challenges associated with funding of infrastructural facilities. The study adopted the quantitative approach, descriptive research design and relied on descriptive statistics (frequency, percentages and pie charts) to address the research objectives set for the study. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from 275 respondents, consisting of academics in management positions and administrators in the three selected public universities (UG, KNUST, and UCC) in Ghana for data analysis. The data was processed using the IBM SPSS Statistics (version 26). The results showed that public universities mostly fund their infrastructural facilities through GETFund, grants from international donors, state-owned enterprises and corporations like GNPC, VRA and VALCO. Again, the study found that lecture rooms and residential halls are two most prioritised facilities that need funding. Also, funds from the Government, royalty income, state-owned corporations and GETFund were shown to be woefully inadequate. Finally, it was found that inadequate private investment frameworks and political interferences were major challenges to infrastructural facility funding. The study therefore concludes that universities place high premium on infrastructural facilities that seek to promote academic and research work. Again, private investment roles and nongovernmental interferences are vital to infrastructural facility funding in Ghanaian Public Universities. The study recommends that universities find other innovative means of funding their infrastructure needs aside the already existing mechanisms.