Ineffective academic deans in public universities in Ghana: A case approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 07 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgina Asi Owusu ◽  
◽  
Rev. Isaac Barfi Sarbeng ◽  
Paul Kwesi Mensah ◽  
Bernice Owusu Sekyere ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Academic Deans ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Cape Coast ◽  
Communication Failure ◽  
Leadership Failure ◽  
Analyse Data ◽  
The University ◽  
University Council

This paper sought to find out the reasons why in the view of faculty members and officers, some academic Deans in public universities are ineffective leaders. Faculty members and officers of some faculties and schools in University of Cape Coast were requested to first say why in their view; some Deans in University of Cape Coast turn out to be ineffective leaders. Second, they were also requested to give their views on the consequences of leadership failure. Using a qualitative design, the investigators sampled eight (8) faculty members and four (4) faculty officers purposively from four Faculties in University of Cape Coast. Interviewees were asked to consider their own Deans first. A thematic narrative analysis was used to analyse data from the interviews and reported. The results showed that Deans fail due to poor posture, poor interpersonal skill, unclear vision and direction and communication failure. The paper has shown that the consequences of a Dean’s failure affect individual members within the faculty, and create disaffection thus, affecting organisational output. It was therefore recommended that the University Council and Management should consider reviewing the current policy of voting deans into office if it even calls for amendments in the 2016 Statute of the University.

Administrative Interlude

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley Fish
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Faculty Member ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
The State ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Independent Contractors ◽  
Service Oriented ◽  
The Many ◽  
The University

But you can’t do it in a vacuum. And although academics would be reluctant to admit it, the conditions that make what they do possible are established and maintained by administrators. When I was a dean, the question I was most often asked by faculty members was, “Why do administrators make so much more money than we do?” The answer I gave was simple: administrators work harder, they have more work to do, and they actually do it. At the end of my tenure as dean, I spoke to some administrators who had been on the job for a short enough time to be able still to remember what it was like to be a faculty member and what thoughts they had then about the work they did now. One said that she had come to realize how narcissistic academics are: an academic, she mused, is focused entirely on the intellectual stock market and watches its rises and falls with an anxious and selfregarding eye. As an academic, you’re trying to get ahead; as an administrator, you’re trying “to make things happen for other people”; you’re “not advancing your own profile, but advancing the institution, and you’re more service oriented.” A second new administrator reported that he finds faculty members “unbelievably parochial, selfish, and selfindulgent.” They believe that their time is their own even when someone else is paying for it. They say things like “I don’t get paid for the summer.” They believe that they deserve everything and that if they are ever denied anything, it could only be because an evil administrator has committed a great injustice. Although they are employees of the university (and in public universities, of the state), they consider themselves independent contractors engaged fitfully in free-lance piecework. They have no idea of how comfortable a life they lead. Neither, said a third administrator recently up from the ranks, do they have any idea of how the university operates. They seem proud of their parochialism and boast of their inability to access the many systems that hold the enterprise together.

scholarly journals The Degree of Applying Accountability Principles in Public & Private Universities in Jordan: A Comparative Study BetweenYarmouk University and Jerash University

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
Ahmed Malkawi ◽  
Kamil Al-Otoum
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Private Universities ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Academic Fields ◽  
The Status ◽  
Yarmouk University ◽  
The University

The study aimed to identify the status of applying the principles of accountability in the public and private universities in Jordan. This was done by comparing between Yarmouk University and Jerash University from the perspective of the employees. The study sample consisted of 250 faculty members and one administrator at Yarmouk University and Jerash University. The questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. The study reached several conclusions, most notably of which include the presence of statistically significant differences in the reality of applying the accountability principles at universities in general, and in the administrative, and academic fields. This, however, is dependent on the variable of the university in favor of Jerash University. The study concluded on a number of recommendations most important of which is the necessity of activating the accountability mechanisms and tools in three areas: administrative, and academic areas of public universities in a higher degree. It also includes a commitment with unified criteria of accountability to ensure the maintenance of an acceptable level of justice and transparency.

The role of digital scholarship in academic libraries, the case of university of cape coast: opportunities and challenges

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Theophilus Kwamena Ocran ◽  
Paulina Afful-Arthur
Keyword(s):  
Learning Style ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Cape Coast ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Scholarship ◽  
The University

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to assess the role of academic libraries in digital scholarship at the University of Cape Coast. The study adopted the descriptive survey design and used teaching staff (lecturers) as the population of the study.Design/methodology/approachA sample size of 278 was used for the study. The study used questionnaires to obtain data from participants. The study revealed that faculty members appreciate digital scholarship through the services offered by Sam Jonah Library are relevant to the current higher education context, reliable information, preservation of information resources and facilitating the integration of library services into the learning process are closely integrated into the library service, transform scholarly communication, teaching and learning style and research paradigm.FindingsThe study revealed that digital scholarship contributes to faculty members' delivery at the University of Cape Coast through the provision of information literacy training for new students, provision of reference lists of materials available in the library and provision of lists of new materials. The study revealed that faculty members face inadequate facilities to enhance digital scholarship, inadequate open access to reading materials (articles, books, etc.), inadequate platforms or suite of tools for librarians to take faculty.Practical implicationsThe application of digital scholarship provides an expansion to the core competitiveness of librarians new services which enables innovativeness and transformation of libraries. Students will be equipped with digital literacy skills; it affords instructors to approach teaching with innovation and scholars are also engaged to perform novel practices in scholarship acquisition. Digital scholarship is the umbrella under which all academic technologies comes under to foster collaboration and better learning experience.Originality/valueThis paper offers an insight of the role digital scholarship in promoting and advancing scholarship in the academic environment. It highlights a number of digital scholarship platform available in the library. It is observed that digital scholarship practices must be encouraged in the library because it facilitates the role of academic library which is to support teaching, learning and research.

scholarly journals Faculty Members’ Attitudes towards the Performance Appraisal Process in the Public Universities in Light of Some Variables

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
Wafaa Mohammed Ali Al-Ashqar
Keyword(s):  
Performance Appraisal ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Significance Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Appraisal Process ◽  
Performance Appraisal Process ◽  
The University

The present study aimed to detect the level of faculty members’ attitudes at public universities towards the performance appraisal process and its relationship with some variables (gender, college, scientific rank, university, teaching experience, and age). The study sample consisted of (320) faculty members of both sexes in three public universities in northern Jordan, namely (Al Yarmouk University, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Al-Balqa Applied University). The results showed that the attitudes of faculty members towards the performance appraisal process was moderate, and the results showed that there were no statistically significant differences at the significance level (α = 0.05) in the degree of attitudes of faculty members towards the performance appraisal process in the public universities due to gender, college, scientific rank, teaching experience, and age. As for the university variable, the differences between the averages were not statistically significant.

scholarly journals Shared Governance in Public Universities in Uganda: Current Concerns and Directions for Reform

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lazarus Nabaho
Keyword(s):  
Shared Governance ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Size Composition ◽  
Governance Framework ◽  
Makerere University ◽  
Current Concerns ◽  
The University ◽  
University Council ◽  
Analyse De Contenu

This article focuses on Makerere University and Kyambogo University to highlight stakeholders’ concerns pertaining to the shared governance framework for public universities in Uganda. It is anchored in the interpretive lens and the data was derived from three state-sponsored reports on the two public universities. The secondary data were analyzed using content analysis. The findings demonstrate that the size, composition, authority, and effectiveness of the university council and the senate and the mode through which leaders assume office, are the salient governance concerns in the two universities. The results further show that, stakeholders’ concerns regarding the current shared governance framework for public universities relate to the substance of the framework rather than its form or the framework itself. This suggests that the governance framework comprising the university council, the university senate and the administration is fit for purpose and in sync with the nature of the academy. Arguably, these governance organs (and the nature of their work) set a university apart from other organisations. Finally, without being prescriptive, the article sketches options for reform.Le présent article se concentre sur l’Université de Makerere et l’Université de Kyambogo pour mettre en lumière l’inquiétude des parties prenantes au sujet du modèle de gouvernance partagée dans les universités publiques en Ouganda. Il adopte un point de vue interprétativiste et s’appuie sur des données issues de trois rapports commandités par l’Etat sur ces deux universités publiques. Les données secondaires ont été traitées par une analyse de contenu. Les résultats démontrent que la taille, la composition, l’autorité et l’efficacité du conseil universitaire et du sénat de l’université, et la façon dont les dirigeants exercent leurs fonctions sont les principaux sujets d’inquiétude en ce qui concerne la gouvernance de ces deux universités. Les résultats démontrent également que les inquiétudes des parties prenantes au sujet du modèle actuel de gouvernance partagée des universités publiques porte sur le contenu de ce modèle, plus que sur sa forme ou sur le modèle lui-même. Cela montre que le modèle de gouvernance qui comprend le conseil universitaire, le sénat de l’université et l’administration répond aux attentes et est en cohérence avec l’environnement académique.On peut considérer que ces organes de gouvernance (et la nature de leur travail) différencient l’université d’autres types d’organisations. Enfin, sans aucune intention normative, cet article ébauche des possibilités de réforme.

Facebook experiences of visually impaired students: A deconstruction of the challenges and benefits

2021 ◽  
pp. 026461962110477
Author(s):  
Michael Asante Quainoo ◽  
Michael Yao Wodui Serwornoo ◽  
Christiana Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Visually Impaired ◽  
Significant Other ◽  
Communication Tool ◽  
Cape Coast ◽  
Visually Impaired People ◽  
Impaired People ◽  
Visually Impaired Students ◽  
The University ◽  
Privacy Issues

This study explores the motivation for usage, benefits, and strategies to overcoming the challenges visually impaired people face in their Facebook interactions. Using in-depth interviews and a narrative analysis of five visually impaired students at the University of Cape Coast, we found that Facebook usage among visually impaired students, although unique in experiences and gratifications, has promoted the formation and strengthening of their social bonds in the community of visually impaired people and their significant other. However, the visually impaired students face significant challenges with interpreting the pictures and videos they encounter on Facebook because screen reader software currently in use cannot interpret graphical content forcing them to rely on their sighted friends which have created independence and privacy issues. Despite these challenges, Facebook remains a powerful communication tool for visually impaired students in interacting with both their disabled and non-disabled friends whom they would normally shy away from in person.

scholarly journals Utilization of computer technology in public universities in Ghana: Implications for management

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Rosemary S. Bosu
Keyword(s):  
Staff Development ◽  
Computer Technology ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Cape Coast ◽  
Kwame Nkrumah ◽  
Lecture Notes ◽  
Access To Technology ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Ghana

This study investigated computer technology for instructional and administrative use in public universities in Ghana. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 450 academic staff and 98 administrators in three Ghanaian public universities: the University of Cape Coast (UCC), the University of Ghana (UG), and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technologv (KNUST).Computers were generally available for both lecturers and administrators 10 use. Availability' and access to technology did not differ significantly between universities. Academic staff used computers mainly for preparing lecture notes or reports while administrators used them mainly for preparing memos and reports. Forty-five percent of lecturers and 58% of administrators reported low or moderate skills in the use of computers. A majority of the respondents obtained their skills through self intuition rather than formal tuition. The findings suggest that universities could improve the availability; access and skills in the use of relevant technologies as part of their staff development programmes. Progress could be monitored by current accreditation programmes.

scholarly journals The Role of Jordanian Public Universities in Promoting International Educational Principles from the Perspective of their Faculty Members

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 116
Author(s):  
Yasmin Mesleh Al-Aqrabawi ◽  
Mohammad Saleem Al-Zboon
Keyword(s):  
International Education ◽  
Faculty Member ◽  
Public Universities ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Academic Rank ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Descriptive Approach ◽  
The University

The present study aimed at exploring the role of Jordanian public universities in promoting international educational principles from the perspective of their faculty members. In order to meet the study’s goals, a descriptive approach was adopted and a questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire consists from twenty five (25) items. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were measured. The study’s sample consists from three hundred (300) faculty members. They were selected from three Jordanian public universities (i.e. the University of Jordan, Yarmouk University and Mu’tah University). The researchers concluded the following results: 1)- The Jordanian public universities play a moderate role in promoting international educational principles from the perspective of the faculty members 2)- There isn’t any statistically significant difference between the respondents’ attitudes towards the role of Jordanian public universities in promoting international educational principles which can be attributed to gender. However, there are statistically significant differences between the respondents’ attitudes in this regard which be attributed to their academic rank. The latter differences are for the favor of the associate professors. There are statistically significant differences between the respondents’ attitudes in this regard which be attributed to type of faculty. The latter differences are for the favor of the ones who work in scientific faculties. The researchers of the present study recommend exerting more efforts by the administrations of Jordanian public universities to promote international educational principles. They also recommend providing more attention for international education in Jordanian universities. That should be done through holding seminars in order for faculty member to attend and hold discussions about international educational principles and concepts. Such seminars shall enrich the knowledge that faculty members have in this regard. The researchers also recommend promoting awareness among faculty members about the significance of addressing international education-related issues in their lectures.

Access and Use of Digital Resources: A Survey of Their Value for Faculty in Three Ghanaian Universities

Libri ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Perpetua Dadzie ◽  
Thomas van der Walt
Keyword(s):  
Digital Libraries ◽  
Faculty Members ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Cape Coast ◽  
Digital Resources ◽  
Institutional Repositories ◽  
Kwame Nkrumah ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis paper is culled from a doctoral study that investigated the development and management of digital libraries in selected academic libraries in Ghana. In this article, the authors report on the value that faculty members place on access to and use of digital resources and their implications for library services in three Ghanaian universities. The survey method was used to administer a structured questionnaire to 230 faculty members. Using convenience sampling, 10% of faculty were selected from the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and the University of Cape Coast. Univariate and bivariate analyses were done to construct frequencies and establish relationships among respondents. Findings showed that less than half of the faculty members were aware of and used digital resources such as the online databases, institutional repositories, the library’s website and the online public access catalogue (OPAC). Nevertheless, the impact of the resources on them was very positive. The study recommended the need for university librarians to interact with faculty during orientation sessions for new faculty as well as new heads of departments. Additionally, subject librarians should work closely with departmental heads to be allocated periods for presentation on available digital resources, their usefulness for their own career enhancement and for their teaching role. The underlying implications of this study show that more advocacies are required from university libraries to enhance the use of digital resources.

Penglibatan Ahli Akademik Terhadap Pengajaran Hadith di Institusi Pengajian

2018 ◽  
pp. 47-52
Author(s):  
Amran Abdul Halim ◽  
Abdulloh Salaeh
Keyword(s):  
Public Universities ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Good Knowledge ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
National University ◽  
Islamic Science ◽  
The University

This study is to identify the involvement of academicians on the teaching of the hadith. The contribution of the academicians to the teaching of the hadith is also very much needed so that Muslims can acknowledge al-Sunnah closely. The academicians were selected from Academic of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya Islamic Studies Academy, the National University of Malaysia, the Islamic Science University of Malaysia and the International Islamic University which they are all from various fields of Islamic Studies. The methodology used in this study is a questionnaire which is group sampling. The researcher distributes the questionnaire to the academic staff at the university involved. Based on this descriptive analysis of the questionnaire, it can be concluded that academic practitioners either in the field of hadith or other fields are involved and contribute to the teaching of hadith such as in public universities and other institutions. This shows that most academicians have good knowledge related to the field of hadith. Therefore, they are among the most suitable as references to the community in solving Sunnah and bidaah issues, especially the academicians who are experts in the field of hadith. Abstrak Kajian ini adalah untuk mengenalpasti penglibatan ahli akademik terhadap pengajaran hadith. Sumbangan ahli akademik terhadap pengajaran hadith juga amat diperlukan agar umat Islam dapat mengenali al-Sunnahsecara  lebih  dekat.  Ahli-ahli  akademik  yang  dipilih  adalah  dari  Akademi  Pengajian  Islam  Universiti Malaya,   Universiti   Kebangsaan   Malaysia,   Universiti   Sains   Islam   Malaysia   dan   Universiti   Islam Antarabangsa  yang  mana  kesemuanya  dalam  pelbagai  bidang  Pengajian  Islam.  Kaedah yang  digunakan dalam kajian ini adalah soal selidik iaitu persampelan berkelompok. Penyelidikmengedarkan borang soal selidik tersebut kepada ahli akademik di universiti tersebut. Berdasarkan, analisis deskriptif soal selidik ini, dapat dirumuskan bahawa ahli akademik sama ada dalam bidang hadith atau lain-lain bidang adalah terlibat dan turut memberi sumbangan dalam pengajaran hadith seperti di universiti-universiti awam dan lain-lain institusi  pengajian.  Ini  menunjukkan  bahawa  kebanyakan  ahli  akademik  mempunyai  pengetahuan  yang baik  berkaitan  dengan  bidang  hadith.  Oleh  itu,  mereka  adalah  antara  golongan  sangat  sesuai  dijadikan sebagai rujukan masyarakat dalam menyelesaikan permasalahan Sunnah dan bidaah, terutama sekali ahli akademik yang pakar dalam bidang hadith.

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