Abstract:

Universities, as Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), perform multiple activities including embarking on projects that have social impact on people outside the academic enclave. Projects which are undertaken to ameliorate social challenges on community members and to bring about improvement in people’s life are considered social innovation. The paper investigates the social innovation projects that the three universities in the Sunyani municipality undertake for their surrounding communities.

The purpose of the study is addressed by gathering both primary and secondary data to answer these questions:
- What have been the institutions’ contributions to social change?
- Why are the institutions offering social innovation projects to their beneficiaries?
- Which individuals and/or groups do benefit from their social innovation policies?

In what ways do the institutions engage people or communities in creating social innovation? How do the institutions go about needs assessment prior to offering social innovation to the beneficiaries? The study puts the spotlight on three distinct higher education institutions in the Sunyani municipality in the middle belt of Ghana, West Africa, with different duration of existence, orientations and foci. The institutions are: Sunyani Technical University (STU), a state owned technical university, focusing on technical education programmes, University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), which is also a state funded institution, that focuses on energy and natural science programmes and Catholic University of Ghana (CUG), a private religious chartered tertiary institution, which offers a variety of general programmes. The study adopts the multiple case design, relying on interview, observation and document analysis to generate data. Implications of the research outcomes for practice, policy and theory will be discussed and appropriate suggestions proffered.

Keywords:

Higher Education Institution, social innovation, social impact, barriers to implementing social impact.