Punching Ahead: Reimagining the Application Lens for Public Private Partnerships in African Universities

Funding constraints hamper universities'ability to deliver on their mandates. In response, they are implementing alternative innovative funding mechanisms, such as public-private partnerships (PPPs), to address the funding gap and expedite service delivery. A systematic review of the literature on PPPs from a resource dependency theory perspective revealed that universities'evolving operational landscape has led to PPP adoption. While PPPs are widely embraced in the developed world among universities, in African universities, their adoption remains limited. The results of the investigation undertaken in this paper are significant because they offer insights into how PPPs can effectively be applied in universities to expedite service delivery, thereby addressing challenges associated with meeting expanded mandates while enabling public universities to deliver ahead of time, the notion of ―punching ahead".Given the perception of education as a catalyst for sustainable development, making it cost-effective and affordable for society via PPP emerges as a suitable funding policy intervention that alleviates state universities, private stakeholders, and students'burdens. © 2024 Adonis and Abbey Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.