**2. Ghana's higher education sector**

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

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

least attention to, and why?"

28 Global Voices in Higher Education

Ghana's higher education system was bequeathed to her by Britain but the system has since been reformed following independence from Britain in 1957. Currently, higher education in Ghana covers universities and non‐university institutions such as polytechnics, colleges of education, colleges of nursing, and other institutions [13]. Higher education institutions in Ghana are public, private, national or internationally owned. The universities offer bachelor, master and doctoral degree programmes while the non‐university institutions deliver diplo‐ mas and certificates [13, 14]. The mode of higher education teaching in Ghana includes tradi‐ tional on‐campus, distance and online formats [13]. Ghana's higher education system is not immune to global trends. It is characterised by mass participation, a decline in state funding, globalisation, internationalisation and privatisation [4, 15]. Enrolment in higher education has increased sharply in recent times and continues to rise. For example, higher education enrolment rose from below 9997 in 1992 to more than 132,000 in 2010 (Bailey 2011) and 396, 264 in 2015 [13]. This notwithstanding, only about 10% of the age cohort from junior sec‐ ondary schools gain admission to higher education institutions [16]. In Ghana, enrolments in the higher education sector tilt towards humanities but the country requires a ratio of 60:40 sciences to humanities human power base to propel its development agenda [17]. For instance, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and arts/humanities ratio between the years 2002–2003 and 2007–2008 in Ghanaian public universities stood at 35:65 and 38:62, respectively [17]. Ghana's higher education sector is also characterised by gen‐ der disparity. The number of female students enrolled in the sector is far less than males except in the nurses training colleges where females outnumber males in a ratio of 7:3 [13]. The government primarily finances higher education in Ghana. Education covers 23.3% of Ghana's fiscal budget [18]. Out of this, 21.6% is allocated to the higher education sector [18] but unfortunately, this falls short of the funds required by Ghanaian higher education institutions due to growth in student enrolment. This situation has triggered several financial initiatives. The government has established Ghana Education Trust (GET) to assist higher education institutions with additional funds for infrastructural development [19] but this excludes private higher education institutions. Ghanaian private higher education institutions only obtain financial assistance from the government in the form of tax exemptions. Though these appear to have enhanced the financial viability of most private Ghanaian higher education institutions, compared to peers in the global north, higher education is still under‐ funded, impacting negatively on the quality of higher education system.
