Determinants of Financial Sustainability in Zimbabwe’s Public Universities

Abstract

The study investigated how innovative financial resource mobilisation projects/programmes improved the financial sustainability of Zimbabwe's public universities. Correlation and survey research designs guided by positivist research theory were utilised. The unit of analysis was limited to six public universities in Zimbabwe. Two hundred and twenty nine respondents were randomly chosen out of 1 450 employees in the separate revenue-generating units to participate in the Rensis Likert scale questionnaire survey. Quantitative data were validated using tests for 
normality, kurtosis and skewness, homoscedasticity, multicollinearity, and prior power of the entire study model. The test findings were within acceptable limits. The multiple linear regression model results revealed that organisational structure, cost management, financial administration, institutional support, and own income generation all had positive coefficients, indicating a positive relationship with financial sustainability. A negative relationship was found between strategic planning and financial sustainability, implying that the more strategic planning procedures implemented, the worse the financial sustainability. The alternate 
hypothesis: Innovative financial resource mobilisation having no substantial effect on the financial sustainability of Zimbabwe's public universities, was accepted. It was concluded that the innovative financial resource mobilisation improved the financial sustainability of Zimbabwe's public universities.