Campus Companies: Harnessing the Potential of Fashion and Textiles Production Units in Ghanaian Polytechnics for Income Generation

Abstract

A JICA Study (2001) pointed out that the concept of ‘Campus Companies’ will be useful in promoting income generation of polytechnics. The JICA Study cited examples in Ireland, where many tertiary institutions have adopted the concept and operated their own businesses on campus, with support from the private sector. The study further stated that polytechnics in Ghana could introduce a similar concept and operate businesses through their own initiatives, since there were already some activities in polytechnics that resembled these ‘Campus Company’ models. Riding on this proposition, the research establishes that the concept is timely since the inability of government to shoulder the rising cost of tertiary education is forcing polytechnics to look inward to generate internal funds. The research looked at some existing production units attached to Fashion and Textiles programmes in Ghanaian Polytechnics. The objectives were to study the structures and activities of these production units; their contributions to students’ professional training and their potentialsto generate income for their respective institutions. The case study method was adopted and the findings reported using the Qualitative Approach. The findings revealed that production
units attached to Fashion and Textiles programmes in polytechnics are true semblance of ‘Campus Companies’ as pointed out by JICA (2001). Therefore, harnessing the potentials of these production units would promote students’ professional development and generate substantial income to fund the ever-growing cost of Vocational and Technical Higher Education.