The Effect of Academic Textiles Studies on The Ghana Textile Industry

Purpose: The study sought to examine the impact of institutional textiles research on the textile industry in Ghana to make feasible projections towards the effective implementation of research findings for the revitalization and sustainability of the Ghana textile industry. Design/Methodology/Approach: Adopting the quantitative evaluation research methods with questionnaires and interviews as the main instrumentation for data collection. Purposive sampling and stratified random sampling techniques were used to select 142 respondents. Though, only 54 respondents participated in the research.. The data was analysed descriptively using frequency. Findings: The study revealed that despite the upsurge of research works with concrete and feasible recommendations in curbing the challenges of the textile factories, the lack of industry/academia collaboration is what impedes the effective implementation of these research findings to address the issues. Research Limitation: The study focused on two major large-scale textile factories in Ghana; Tex Styles Ghana Limited (TGL) and Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL) alongside research publications of Ghanaian institutions of high repute like KNUST, Takoradi Technical University, University of Education, University of Cape Coast and the University of Ghana were targeted for the study. Practical Implication: There should be a strong partnership between industry and academia through collaborative research, a policy on the implementation of research findings, allocation of funds for textile researchers and a monitoring system by the government to ensure full implementation of research findings. Social Implication: The study, therefore, calls on the government to monitor these policies to ensure that they are in full effective operation and implemented to the highest peak. Originality/ value: the findings of this study provide numerous recommendations by academic institutions of higher learning aimed at revamping the declining industry which when fully implemented will help boost the rise of the industries.