Lecturers and Administrators Perceptions of Quality Assurance in Ghanaian Public Universities

Abstract

The delivery of Quality Assurance and management practice in public universities in Ghana is mostly done by lecturers and administrators. Both the lecturers and administrators perceived quality assurance differently making it difficult to arrive at consensus. It is in line with this that the paper explored lectures and administrators' perceptions of quality assurance in Ghanaian public universities. The paper adopted qualitative approach. The data sources consisted of interviews with key informants and institutional policy documents. Documentary analysis was used primarily to answer the research questions about formal written QA policies, while interviews sought to build understanding of the knowledge and views of key people who developed and carried out these policies. The results show that the lecturers and the administrators from the various selected universities in the study perceived quality differently but all means the same. One fact that remains is that they are all aware of quality assurance and something that is operating in all the institutions. For instance, some perceived quality assurances as an on-going process and that changes can come as you move along and these changes are incorporated into the existing objectives of quality assurance to inform and improve practice. Others perceived quality as an institutional standard that needs to be conformed to by every individual. The study revealed that quality assurance in the various universities help in achieving quality in running academic activities thus, lecturing and provision of aids and relevant up-to-date materials for effective teaching and learning. It was concluded that quality assurance is perceived differently by both lecturers and administrators but means the same. The paper recommends that, the various universities should give adequate budgetary allocation for quality assurance programmes, and institute strong mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation of quality assurance programmes. The relationships between the various stakeholders responsible for quality assurance in public universities should be strengthened to enable them work effectively and efficiently. The people should be encouraged and motivated to perform their roles to avoid any misunderstanding in the performance of their roles. Also, Government and Non-governmental organisations should give support and proper training to people in quality assurance to enable them understand issues of quality assurance practices.  This will help to improve upon the quality assurance and management practices in public tertiary institutions in Ghana.