Constructing Institutional Identities: The Case of the Slogans of Selected Public and Private Universities in Ghana

Abstract

University slogans serve as potent semiotic tools through which higher education institutions communicate their identities, philosophies, and aspirations to the public. In Ghana, both public and private universities employ slogans to construct and project institutional identities that align with national development goals, cultural expectations, and global competitiveness. Drawing on data from the official slogans of ten public and ten private universities in Ghana, this study investigates the linguistic and ideological features that underlie the construction of institutional identities. Employing a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework and Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as analytical lenses, the study examines how language choices in these slogans reflect particular institutional values, power relations, and socio-cultural orientations. The analysis reveals that public universities tend to emphasize national service, knowledge production, and moral responsibility, while private universities foreground spirituality, entrepreneurship, and global citizenship. The findings highlight the intersection of education, ideology, and discourse in the Ghanaian higher education landscape, offering insights into how institutional communication serves as a microcosm of broader societal narratives.