Financing Higher Education in Sierra Leone: The Challenges and Implications on the Supply Side (Published)
Higher education finance has become a very serious challenge in providing quality delivery especially on the supply side. As the demand of higher education increases, there is an urge to increase the number of institutions providing higher education in Sierra Leone, so a balance would be maintained. The traditional education institutions are always faced with financial constrains triggered by the inability of the central government to meet fees subsidies in time and the delay on the parts of students to pay for services delivered. Considering the fact that there has been a lot of policy formation from the supply-side, it is prudent to assess the impact in terms of financial performance and sustainability of selected educational Institutions in Sierra Leone. The objective of this paper is to evaluate financial performance and institutional sustainability and risk of selected educational institutions in providing services to students. Have educational institutions been performing financially and are they sustainable? The study uses a case of three (3) institutions within the Universities of Sierra Leone. The institutions selected were part of the University of Sierra Leone before and after 2005 with more than 20,000 students and more than 10 academic faculties. The quantitative approach was used for this study, both primary and secondary date was collected from the selected sample. The study shows that higher education institutions are underfunded and not sustainable. Government should allow higher education institutions to charge economic fees or pay subsidies on time.
Keywords: Challenges of Higher Education, Financing Higher Education in Sierra Leone, Higher Education in Sierra Leone, the Cost of Education in Sierra Leone