Level of participation University governance system and its influence on constituents' commitment to Universities in Ghana

Abstract

The study investigated level of participation in university governance and its influence on constituents’ commitment to universities in Ghana. The study made use of the mixed method approach and collected data from 500 respondents made up of 35 leaders and 465 members of the various constituencies. The one-stage cluster random sampling procedure which makes use of the lottery method of simple random sampling technique was used to select 465 respondents while the 35 key informants were selected purposively. Questionnaire and an interview guide were the instruments used. The quantitative data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics while the qualitative data were analysed manually using the axial coding system. The study revealed that senior member constituencies participated more in the governance of the university than other constituencies. Furthermore, whenever constituencies’ participate in the governance system of the university, it influences their respective constituents to be satisfied with the system which in turn makes them more committed to what the university stands for which translate into their commitment to the university in the long run. The study recommended that management of the universities should ensure that there is congenial participatory governance environment in their respective institutions to encourage and motivate constituents to be committed to the universities in the long run. This can be achieved when there is fairness and equality in the number of members that represents each constituency in the various statutory university committees