Conversion of Polytechnics to Technical Universities (TUs): Challenges in Administrative Records Management in TUs in Ghana

Abstract

1. I ntroduction Thr oughout the w or ld, all or ganizations, w hether small or lar ge, public or pr ivate, have one thing in common, each pr oduces r ecor ds in car r ying out their daily activities. Infor mation cr eated, r eceived and maintained as evidence and infor mation by an or ganization or per son, in pur suance of legal obligations or in the tr ansaction of business BS ISO 15489, (2000). Recor ds management is the pr ocess of managing infor mation r esour ces that can be r epr oduced in the conduct of business activity. It was again defined as the field of management r esponsible for the efficient and systematic contr ol of the cr eation, r eceipt, maintenance use and disposition of r ecor ds ISO, 15489(2001). A lot of individuals have the impr ession that r ecor ds management is just about hoar ding ever ything that comes into one's depar tment in the cour se of doing business. Shepher d (2006) stated that or ganizations use r ecor ds to show their compliance with the best standar ds of pr actice and r ecognized policies. Citizens r ight such as entitlement r ights, legal r ights, secur ity r ights, financial r ights and much mor e ar e ensur ed w hen r ecor ds ar e w ell managed. Dzandu, (2009) posits that w ithout pr oper management of r ecor ds, r ule of law, management of state r esour ce, pr obity, accountability, for eign r elations and pr otection of entitlements and r ight of citizens w ould be meaningless. In a r elated development, Duose (2009) indicated that w hen r ecor ds ar e pr oper ly kept by public officials, they can r ely on it whenever the need ar ises. Ngoepe (2004) indicated that a sound r ecor ds management is the foundation of any higher educational institution to pr ovide the needed ser vices, to fulfil its obligation of accountability towar ds the immediate community, students and staff and pr otection of their r ights. TUs (Polytechnics) in Ghana as r eputable higher educational institutions apar t fr om the Tr aditional Univer sities play a significant developmental r ole in Ghana by chur ning out middle-level labour for ce for all sector of the economy. Ther efor e, ther e is the need for accur ate management of administr ative r ecor ds w ithin these ter tiar y institutions. Abstr act: A quantitative study of 5 pur posively selected Technical Univer sities (TUs) of Ghana was conducted to assess the administr ative r ecor ds management after the conver sion of Polytechnics to TUs. The descr iptive r esear ch design was the str ategy employed. The str atified and simple r andom techniques wer e used to sample 50 r espondents fr om these TUs. Findings of the study showed among other things t hat, befor e the conver sion fr om Polytechnic status, concentr ations of administr ative r ecor ds management wer e on policies and pr ocedur es for the cr eation and stor age of r ecor ds in both electr onic and paper for mat and least concentr ation on or ganizational file plan that compile pr imar y types of functional Units in or der to locat e infor mation. After the conver sion to TUs, ther e was a r emar kable impr ovement on policies and pr ocedur es used in the cr eation and stor age of administr ative r ecor ds in manual for mat and or ganizational file plan that compile pr imar y types by functional Units in or der to locate infor mation. Ther efor e, it was r ecommended among other s that TUs should include administr ative r ecor ds management in their str ategic plan to allocate the necessar y r esour ce for its effective and efficient management. Keywords: Administr ative r ecor ds, r ecor ds management, r ecor ds keeping, technical univer sities, Ghana