Abstract:
This Social Studies thesis consists of four empirical studies on the public
Polytechnic Higher Education Institutions in Ghana (PHEIGs). Using the flexible
quadratic cost function model, the first empirical study examines
economies/diseconomies of scale and scope of PHEIGs outputs. Product–specific
diseconomies of scale are found at the Technician programme, Higher National
Diploma, Bachelor of Technology and Research mean outputs. Global economies
of scale, product-specific and global economies of scope at mean operating
outputs are established. The second empirical study using Data Envelopment
Analysis (DEA), reveal empirical evidence suggesting that 80 percent of the
PHEIGs are technically efficient in productivity for the 2014-2015 calendar year,
while the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) results indicate that the PHEIGs
total factor productivities changes fall between 0.21 and 0.93 values suggesting
that majority of the PHEIGs registered losses within the range of 7 percent to 89
percent in productivity, and the prevalence of technical inefficiencies in the range
of 0 - 56 percent and little changes in distance from most productive scale size
over the study period of 2010-2011 to 2014-2015. The value ranges also indicate
that the PHEIGs do not operate at a homogeneous level of efficiency. The third
empirical study examines the sources of PHEIGs Internally Generated Funds
(IGFs) and established that 94 percent of the 32 items constituting the IGFs
realised are additional cost to students indicating the continuation of the era of
cost-sharing in Higher Education in Ghana disguised as IGFs. The fourth
empirical study conducts a tracer study to determine the earnings structure and the
gender earnings gap among PHEIGs 2013 Higher National Diploma graduates
(HND) using the interval regression model and the Oaxaca decomposition models
respectively. The phenomenon of an intra-class gender earnings gap is established
in the Ghanaian labour market, suggesting that 2013 male HND graduates with
sample 2013 female HND graduates average characteristics earn 44 percent more
in monthly earnings than their female counterparts on average, ceteris paribus.
Description:
A THESIS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL STUDIES EDUCATION,
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE EDUCATION, SUBMITTED TO THE
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF
PHILOSOPHY (SOCIAL STUDIES) IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION,
WINNEBA
