Public Funding of Higher Education and Student Access

A Comparative Study of Two Public Universities in Africa

Abstract

This study explores the question of how public universities seek to improve student access, given the decline in public funding. Using resource dependence theory as a guide, a qualitative approach via semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis will be used to gather data to explore how public universities are improving student access. Globally, the high cost of higher education, rising student enrolment, and economic challenges of nations have caused a reduction in public funding for higher education. This decline in public funding seems to have increased tuition fees, caused deterioration of infrastructure, thereby affecting student access to higher education. To examine the reduction in public funding and student access, this study first explores the nature of the changes in public funding and student access at the University of the Western Cape and the University of Ghana from 2007 to 2016. This is followed by the analysis of factors that influence the changes in public funding, and what are their implications for student access at the University of the Western Cape and the University of Ghana and the last to be analyzed is the strategic responses towards influencing changes in student access by the two universities in the face of the limited public funding.