Budget formulation and enactment as determinants of education service delivery in selected public universities in South Sudan

Abstract

This study examined the effects of budget formulation and enactment on the delivery of educational services in selected public universities in South Sudan. The inquiry was motivated by chronic funding shortfalls, infrastructure deficits, and weak research output that continue to undermine the country's public universities despite successive public financial management reforms, set against a fragile state context in which higher education receives a disproportionately small share of an already constrained national budget. Anchored on New Public Management, Principal Agent, and SERVQUAL theories, the study adopted a pragmatic paradigm and a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, drawing on data from staff and policymakers at the University of Juba, the University of Bahr El Ghazal, and Upper Nile University, and from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology. From a distributed sample of 400, an analytic sample of 358 respondents completed a five-point Likert questionnaire, complemented by 21 key informant interviews and three focus group discussions. Internal consistency was very good (Cronbach's alpha of 0.861 and 0.886 for the two constructs). Pearson correlation revealed a moderate, positive, and significant relationship between the constructs (r = 0.535, p < 0.01), and simple linear regression confirmed a significant positive effect (beta = 0.535, R2 = 0.287, F(1, 356) = 143.10, p < 0.001). Qualitative analysis identified inadequate budget estimates, chronic approval delays, and limited transparency and stakeholder participation as the main constraints. The study recommends participatory, cost-based budgeting, statutory reform of the budget cycle, and stronger transparency and stakeholder engagement at the formulation stage.