Financial and Administrative Investment: Examining sources, Institutional budgets and outcomes

The purpose of this study on financial and administrative investment was to examine the sources of finances, institutional budgets, the quality of human resourcesand the quality of outcomes (students) at Chipata College of Education. The study had four main objectives: to identify the sources of financial resources at Chipata College of Education;to assess the extent to which financial resources acquired met the demands of the institutional budget,to assess the quality of human resource employed to administer the finances acquired and to examine the role of financial and administrative investment on educational outcomes. A case study design was used and qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection were employed for the study. A sample size of 122 respondents was chosen out of which 80 werestudents, 15 College administrators, 15 Lecturers, 10 heads or deputy-heads of schools within Chipata District, 1 Internal Auditor and 1 Human Resource Officer from the PEO Eastern Province who were all purposively selected. The findings of the study revealed that the main sources of funding were user fees, government grants, donor agencies and Non- Governmental Organizations. Among these sources, user fees were the main source. With regards to how far the financial resources met the institutional budget, it was discovered that there was a huge budget deficit in 2012 and 2013 due to insufficient government funding. The same was said to have been the case in most of the previous years. The human resource employed to administer the financeshad the minimum required academic qualifications as demanded by government regulations. It was also revealed that the number of the accounting staff was not very good; as a result they were overworked and did not adhere to financial procedures and regulations. It was also discovered that utilization and monitoring of finances was weak. Furthermore, graduateswho were the educational outcomes were discovered to be of good quality and had higher chances of getting employed despite most of them having difficulties in using the chalkboard and teaching literacy lessons. Educational inputs such as infrastructure and teaching and learning materials which are key determinants of the quality of outcomes were not only inadequate but also in a bad condition. However, the teaching process was partiallyaffected because more resources were poured into the development of the College administrators and Lecturers’ skills and qualifications than on infrastructure and teaching and learning materials. The study made four recommendations which are that government must ensure that it increases its funding on educational institutions so that institutional budgets can be fully met. This can be achieved by making policies on fundraising projects in Colleges more flexible so as to allow the colleges raise funds through various forms of business activities such as entertainment and agriculture. The study also recommended that the government should put in place a strong financial monitoring mechanism to ensure proper use of funds by making the College financial statement open for scrutiny to all stakeholders (the government, donor agencies, lecturers, students and the community). All stakeholders must alsotake an active role in the management of higher institutions of learning in order to ensure effective management and transparency in education provision.The basic qualification at this learning institution must also be revised to a minimum level of a Masters Degree for College administrators. This can be achieved by ensuring that all administrative positions are held by persons who have a masters Degree relevant to their positions. This will improve the management of funds and decisions on expense will be made based on expertise and experience.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Zambia

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Tembo, Pilira

• Vocational Education-Zambia-Administration
• Vocational Education-Zambia-Finance

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

http://dspace.unza.zm/handle/123456789/3794

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.unza.zm:123456789/3794