Policy development and implementation in a Ghanaian public university

This qualitative case study explores how policy is developed and implemented in public universities in Ghana, using the case of the University of Education, Winneba. It draws on a theoretical rationale in which inclusion and inclusiveness are seen as paramount (Lewin, 1951; Schein, 1995; Robins, 2003) to specifically question the influence of different stakeholder groups in the development and implementation of policies in the University. The study utilized data from two sources: the analysis of policy documents, and semi-structured one-on-one interviews with fifteen senior non-teaching and teaching staff in three of the four University of Education campuses. The findings discussed in the two analysis chapters – Chapter Four and Chapter Five - indicate that not all stakeholders of the university community are involved in policy reforms. The discussion in Chapter Four suggests that some policy reforms are handled by the Governing Council and/or the Academic Board without much consultation with stakeholders. Junior level staff are the most excluded from the policymaking process with the effect that in some cases University management decisions become policies. Chapter Five discusses stakeholder participation and finds that efforts are made to disseminate policies although there are gaps in the dissemination methods and implementation. The main policy implementation gaps are the lack of proper evaluation and follow-up mechanisms for investigating the magnitude of collegiate participation and the impacts of such participation. Given that all the stakeholders are required to support new policies irrespective of their gender and/or position, the study contends that collegial participation in the policy development and implementation processes is very important. Overall, it may be argued that stakeholder perspectives on policy development practices within UEW contradicts Muller’s (2007) concerns that academic institutions are nurtured through the adoption of sound policies through wide faculty consultation. Due to the small number (fifteen) of participants and considering that this was a case study, it is recommended that future studies are scaled up to include a fuller range of views (junior and senior members) from both public and private universities.