Financing Public Universities in Ghana Through Strategic Agility: Lessons from Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA)

In the turbulent environment in which organizations operate, strategic flexibility is crucial for building the capacities of universities to withstand turbulence, remains more competitive, sustainable and relevant to address national development needs. This paper applied the agility theory to examine how the GIMPA responded to its financial crisis to remain a financially self-sustaining public university in Ghana. Data were collected through interviews with former rectors, faculty members, administrative staff, alumni, and officials of stakeholder institutions of tertiary education. In response to cut in government funding, the paper found that the management of GIMPA was flexible enough to adopt an entrepreneurial approach that enabled the commercialization of academic services to generate resources for sustainable funding. The findings suggest that flexibility as a top management practice is able to help manage the trade-offs between stability and flexibility during crises.