**Balancing the Focus of Quality Assurance Frameworks of Higher Education Institutions in Africa: A Ghanaian Context**

Francis Ansah, Patrick Swanzy and Hope Pius Nudzor

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.68665

#### **Abstract**

Higher education institutions in Africa appear to be completely copying the quality assurance (QA) frameworks of developed countries instead of conceptualising their own frameworks for delivering quality higher education outcomes in Africa. Certain factors (limited funding, inadequate infrastructure, inadequate staffing, relatively low research outputs, and limited graduate employable skills) characterising higher educa‐ tion are peculiar to developing countries including Africa. Using a qualitative case‐study approach through interviews and document reviews, and a "PPP" conceptual frame‐ work, this study examined the foci of quality assurance frameworks of three flagship universities in Ghana. The findings indicate that the least attention is given to facilities in the quality assurance frameworks even though limited facilities pose a major challenge to the quality of higher education outcomes of the universities. The findings indicate that most attention is paid to programme areas such as teaching and learning. The results of the study recommend regular and appropriate balancing of the foci of quality assurance frameworks in the universities to enable them to give optimum attention to all key opera‐ tional areas for quality outcomes.

**Keywords:** balancing, focus, quality assurance framework, higher education institutions

### **1. Introduction**

Quality assurance (QA) now stands as one of the top priorities of contemporary higher educa‐ tion systems in Africa [1, 2]. In the past two decades, many countries in Africa have established national quality assurance bodies in order to ensure that higher education institutions do not

© 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

compromise on quality. Due to the pressure of globalisation and internationalisation, African higher education systems and institutions have had to adopt quality assurance frameworks from the higher education systems in the developed world in order to gain acceptance and credibility [3]. Numerous factors influencing the establishment of quality assurance in higher education appear to be global in nature; however, some of the factors are peculiar to Africa.

Higher education systems in Africa have been characterised by limited funding, inadequate infrastructure, inadequate staffing, relatively low research, mass student enrolment, and limited graduate employable skills [2, 4]. It requires a pragmatist approach to conduct quality assurance in Africa's higher education systems. Higher education institutions in Africa must conceptualise their quality assurance frameworks strategically in order to make such frame‐ works fit for purpose [2]. For instance, in developed countries, higher education systems are characterised by adequate facilities, and therefore, facilities might attract less attention in the framing of their quality assurance systems. Higher education systems in Africa are charac‐ terised by inadequate facilities which require that quality assurance frameworks in African higher education systems give more attention to facilities than those of developed countries.

Improving low employable skills and improving research quality are constantly reported as key concerns of the higher education systems of Africa [2]. This gives an indication that quality assurance frameworks in contemporary African higher education do not appear to be ade‐ quately addressing the quality challenges of the higher education systems. Quality assurance frameworks of many African higher education systems depict robustness but in actuality, do not adequately address the peculiar nature of quality concerns currently experienced by African higher education. Of course, there are global standards for quality assurance in higher education to enable comparability of outcomes, but quality assurance also needs to include localised differences [3, 5] so that quality assurance frameworks are compatible with context. Quality assurance frameworks in Europe and Africa may have the same features but at a particular point may focus on different areas in order to balance quality assurance activities for improved outcomes. A pragmatist conceptualisation of quality assurance frameworks needs to mirror the prevailing quality concerns it seeks to address. This calls for continual balancing of the foci of quality assurance frameworks to reflect the changing concerns of quality in higher education [6].

Currently, the foci of quality assurance frameworks of higher education institutions in Ghana, particularly universities, are understudied, resulting in a gap in information to inform effec‐ tive balancing of the foci in order to improve higher education outcomes. This study sought to investigate the coverage of quality assurance policies and practices of universities in Ghana and the proportional attention given to each operational activity covered by the quality assur‐ ance frameworks. The study was intended to contribute to the debate on what should be captured by the quality assurance frameworks of universities and how to ensure effective balancing of the foci of quality assurance frameworks in order to address the changing concerns in the Ghanaian higher education system. Therefore, the research question for the study was "What do quality assurance frameworks of higher education institutions in Ghana give the least attention to, and why?"

Ghana, the site of this study, is a republican state located on the west coast of Africa, bor‐ dered to the west by the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, to the east by the Republic of Togo, to the north by the Republic of Burkina Faso, and to the south by the Gulf of Guinea. Ghana gained independence from Britain on 6th March, 1957 and subsequently became a republic on 1st July 1960. Ghana's population is 25,905,000 with females comprising 51.3 and males 48.7% [7]. The country's population growth rate is 2.1% and life expectancy is estimated at 61 years [7]. The country's adult literacy rate is 74.1% [8]. Oil, gold and cocoa are Ghana's main exports. Ghana is also endowed with agricultural potential, including forests and significant tracts of savannah land with high agricultural value; however, these are not being fully devel‐ oped [9]. Ghana's economy is the fastest growing and the second‐largest economy in West Africa after Nigeria [10]. Its gross domestic product (GDP) is US\$ 48.18 billion and the gross national income (GNI) per capita stands at US\$ 1770 [7]. Ghana is an emerging economy and is currently classified by the World Bank as a lower middle level income country [10]. The country's vision is to attain fully‐fledged middle‐income status by the year 2020 [11]. Ghana wants to achieve this via human resource development and industrialisation [11]. Despite these aspirations, Ghana's current economy appears gloomy. Ghana faces key challenges in its development, including higher education. In addition, Ghana has a large balance of pay‐ ment deficits, particularly large for a country classified as lower middle income [12]. Ghana's quest to sustain its economic growth and seek competitive advantage in the globalised knowl‐ edge economy will be supported by the higher education institutions graduating a highly skilled and knowledgeable workforce.
