Were We Right the First Time? Adopting a Systems Thinking Approach to Reviewing a Decision in a Higher Education Setting

Abstract

The rapid development of technology and its harnessed impact on globalisation and internationalization, has forced Higher Education Institutions into competitive relationships with each other and invariably increased the complexity of interactions between and among institutions; requiring strategic adaptations.

Faced with dwindling participation and resources, the conversion of Polytechnics to Technical Universities is considered as a final resolution to the issues concerning middle level manpower training in Ghana. Expect teams and consultants were engaged to assess and recommend some Polytechnics for conversion. The recommendations of this assessment have been subjected to a strategic decision-making model with a competitive value. The results are then compared with initial recommendations to assess how they hold up.

The results affirm that strategically, there was significant variation in the results of the initial assessment and the current model. The tangential institutions are considered highly credible for success as technical universities, and thus meriting conversion.