Industry School Partnerships in Vocational and Academic Training: A Resource Dependency View on the Regional Maritime University in Ghana

This paper reports on examples of positive and negative industry-university/school partnerships developed over several decades and seen through the lenses of resource dependency theory. It makes references to the specialised training needs of the maritime industry (seafarers, harbour pilots and tugboat crew, and lately professionals in the oil and gas sector), highly important jobs for the further capacity development for a country like Ghana. In the paper, we address the general challenge of inadequate funding for education and training characterizing many (African) educational institutions. Inadequacy, which normally leads to frustration, difficulties, politicization and in the end a fight for survival. However, which also can lead educational institutions to be innovative. Over the years, The Regional Maritime University (RMU) has survived on innovation to sustain its unique combination of academic and vocational training, which is quite usual for Maritime Education and Training (MET) institutions worldwide. The paper addresses the well-known arguments on capacity development through practice-oriented training but also research and development where the educational institutions rely on network-based synergies with external actors. This is illustrated in the newest example in the Oil and Gas industry in Ghana and the maritime industry.