IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v20y2009i2p183-192.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Efficiency and productivity growth in Chinese universities during the post-reform period

Author

Listed:
  • NG, Ying Chu
  • LI, Sung-ko

Abstract

The social science research performance of Chinese universities is examined using panel data. The universities are found to be very inefficient in general, with not much difference between regions. By far the largest single cause of universities' overall technical efficiency is pure technical efficiency, along with a considerable amount of scale inefficiency and a modest amount of congestion. No obvious regional differences in the universities' productivity growth are apparent between 1998 and 2002. Decomposition of the Malmquist productivity index indicates that although there has been technological progress over the years, poor scale efficiency and technical efficiency have resulted in deterioration in the universities' average productivity. There are signs of increasing congestion during the period studied.

Suggested Citation

  • NG, Ying Chu & LI, Sung-ko, 2009. "Efficiency and productivity growth in Chinese universities during the post-reform period," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 183-192, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:20:y:2009:i:2:p:183-192
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043-951X(09)00031-5
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. A. T. Flegg & D. O. Allen, 2007. "Does Expansion Cause Congestion? The Case of the Older British Universities, 1994-2004," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 75-102.
    2. Jill Johnes, 2008. "Efficiency And Productivity Change In The English Higher Education Sector From 1996/97 To 2004/5," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 76(6), pages 653-674, December.
    3. Worthington, Andrew C. & Lee, Boon L., 2008. "Efficiency, technology and productivity change in Australian universities, 1998-2003," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 285-298, June.
    4. Ray,Subhash C., 2012. "Data Envelopment Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107405264, September.
    5. Jian, Tianlun & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Warner, Andrew M., 1996. "Trends in regional inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 1-21.
    6. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna & Yaisawarng, Suthathip & Li, Sung Ko & Wang, Zhaoping, 1990. "Productivity growth in Illinois electric utilities," Resources and Energy, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 383-398, December.
    7. Fare, Rolf & Shawna Grosskopf & Mary Norris & Zhongyang Zhang, 1994. "Productivity Growth, Technical Progress, and Efficiency Change in Industrialized Countries," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(1), pages 66-83, March.
    8. Bao, Shuming & Chang, Gene Hsin & Sachs, Jeffrey D. & Woo, Wing Thye, 2002. "Geographic factors and China's regional development under market reforms, 1978-1998," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 89-111.
    9. A. T. Flegg & D. O. Allen & K. Field & T. W. Thurlow, 2004. "Measuring the efficiency of British universities: a multi-period data envelopment analysis," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(3), pages 231-249.
    10. William W. Cooper & Lawrence M. Seiford & Kaoru Tone, 2007. "Data Envelopment Analysis," Springer Books, Springer, edition 0, number 978-0-387-45283-8, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jie Wu & Ganggang Zhang & Qingyuan Zhu & Zhixiang Zhou, 2020. "An efficiency analysis of higher education institutions in China from a regional perspective considering the external environmental impact," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(1), pages 57-70, January.
    2. Lee, Boon L. & Worthington, Andrew C., 2016. "A network DEA quantity and quality-orientated production model: An application to Australian university research services," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 26-33.
    3. An, Duong Hoai, 2022. "Performance of universities in Vietnam," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    4. Yaisawarng, Suthathip & Ng, Ying Chu, 2014. "The impact of higher education reform on research performance of Chinese universities," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 94-105.
    5. Mehdi Rhaiem, 2017. "Measurement and determinants of academic research efficiency: a systematic review of the evidence," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(2), pages 581-615, February.
    6. Sun, Yu & Yang, Feng & Wang, Dawei & Ang, Sheng, 2023. "Efficiency evaluation for higher education institutions in China considering unbalanced regional development: A meta-frontier Super-SBM model," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Tommaso Agasisti & Ekaterina Shibanova & Daria Platonova & Mikhail Lisyutkin, 2018. "The Russian Excellence Initiative For Higher Education: An Econometric Evaluation Of Short-Term Results," HSE Working papers WP BRP 201/EC/2018, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    8. Néstor Duch-Brown & Montserrat Vilalta, 2010. "Can better governance increase university efficiency?," Working Papers 2010/52, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    9. Fu, Tsu-Tan & See, Kok Fong, 2022. "An integrated analysis of quality and productivity growth in China’s and Taiwan’s higher education institutions," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 234-249.
    10. Tommaso Agasisti & Guo-liang Yang & Yao-yao Song & Carolyn-Thi Thanh Dung Tran, 2021. "Evaluating the higher education productivity of Chinese and European “elite” universities using a meta-frontier approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(7), pages 5819-5853, July.
    11. Ma, Zhanxin & See, Kok Fong & Yu, Ming-Miin & Zhao, Chunying, 2021. "Research efficiency analysis of China's university faculty members: A modified meta-frontier DEA approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    12. Shamohammadi, Mehdi & Oh, Dong-hyun, 2019. "Measuring the efficiency changes of private universities of Korea: A two-stage network data envelopment analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Flegg, A.T. & Allen, D.O., 2009. "Congestion in the Chinese automobile and textile industries revisited," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 177-191, September.
    2. Marcel Clermont, 2016. "Effectiveness and efficiency of research in Germany over time: an analysis of German business schools between 2001 and 2009," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(3), pages 1347-1381, September.
    3. Vanesa D’Elia & Gustavo Ferro, 2019. "Empirical Efficiency Measurement in Higher Education: An Overview," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 708, Universidad del CEMA.
    4. Néstor Duch-Brown & Montserrat Vilalta, 2010. "Can better governance increase university efficiency?," Working Papers 2010/52, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    5. Jill Johnes, 2014. "Efficiency and Mergers in English Higher Education 1996/97 to 2008/9: Parametric and Non-parametric Estimation of the Multi-input Multi-output Distance Function," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 82(4), pages 465-487, July.
    6. Yaisawarng, Suthathip & Ng, Ying Chu, 2014. "The impact of higher education reform on research performance of Chinese universities," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 94-105.
    7. Victor V. Podinovski & Wan Rohaida Wan Husain, 2017. "The hybrid returns-to-scale model and its extension by production trade-offs: an application to the efficiency assessment of public universities in Malaysia," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 250(1), pages 65-84, March.
    8. Mad Ithnin Salleh & Shariffah Nur Illiana Syed Ismail & Nurul Fadly Habidin & Nor Azrin Md Latip, 2016. "Efficiency and Productivity Changes of the Malaysian Community Colleges," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 6(12), pages 407-424, December.
    9. Tony Flegg & David O. Allen, 2006. "Does it matter How We Measure Congestion?," Working Papers 0614, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    10. Daraio, Cinzia & Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Simar, Léopold, 2015. "Rankings and university performance: A conditional multidimensional approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 244(3), pages 918-930.
    11. Thomas Bolli & Mehdi Farsi, 2015. "The dynamics of productivity in Swiss universities," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 21-38, August.
    12. Dag Fjeld Edvardsen & Finn R. Førsund & Sverre A. C. Kittelsen, 2017. "Productivity development of Norwegian institutions of higher education 2004–2013," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 399-415, April.
    13. Kristof De Witte & Laura López-Torres, 2017. "Efficiency in education: a review of literature and a way forward," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 339-363, April.
    14. Yang, Guo-liang & Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Song, Yao-yao, 2018. "Measuring the inefficiency of Chinese research universities based on a two-stage network DEA model," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 10-30.
    15. Calogero Guccio & Marco Ferdinando Martorana & Luisa Monaco, 2016. "Evaluating the impact of the Bologna Process on the efficiency convergence of Italian universities: a non-parametric frontier approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 275-298, June.
    16. Aleksandra Parteka & Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz, 2013. "Dynamics of productivity in higher education: cross-european evidence based on bootstrapped Malmquist indices," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 67-82, August.
    17. Sufian, Fadzlan, 2011. "Banks total factor productivity change in a developing economy: Does ownership and origins matter?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 84-98, February.
    18. E Thanassoulis & M Kortelainen & G Johnes & J Johnes, 2011. "Costs and efficiency of higher education institutions in England: a DEA analysis," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 62(7), pages 1282-1297, July.
    19. Sahoo, Biresh K. & Singh, Ramadhar & Mishra, Bineet & Sankaran, Krithiga, 2017. "Research productivity in management schools of India during 1968-2015: A directional benefit-of-doubt model analysis," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 66(PA), pages 118-139.
    20. Jill Johnes & Maria Portela & Emmanuel Thanassoulis, 2017. "Efficiency in education," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 331-338, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:20:y:2009:i:2:p:183-192. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.