Tertiary Educational Infrastructural Development in Ghana: Financing, Challenges and Strategies

Education is the mainstay of the development of any nation; and in developing countries it has become the backbone of human resource development, ensuring effective growth of the economy; however, its corresponding infrastructure development is lacking. Governments around the globe are finding it difficult to provide the needed infrastructure. Arguably, infrastructure development has become a benchmark for the measurement of the level of growth of the economy of developed and developing countries. Consequently, this study aimed to explore the financing mechanisms, challenges and strategies for educational infrastructural development in tertiary education in Ghana. The study adopted the quantitative paradigm to gather data from educationists, finance officers and students. Data generated from the survey was analysed, using descriptive statistics. Findings from the analysis indicated public private partnerships such as build-operate-transfer, build-own-operate, management contracts, service contracts, leases, traditional design-build and turnkey operations are among various options for which educational infrastructure development can be administered. This article suggests that the need to adopt these forms of finance approaches to cater for the growing population is desirable for effective management and administration of tertiary educational infrastructure in developing countries.