IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i8p1416-d107966.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the Efficiency of Public Universities through DEA. A Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Delimiro Visbal-Cadavid

    (Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad del Magdalena, 470004 Santa Marta, Colombia)

  • Mónica Martínez-Gómez

    (Departamento de Estadística e Investigación Operativa Aplicadas y Calidad, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain)

  • Francisco Guijarro

    (Institut de Matemàtica Pura i Aplicada, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain)

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an efficiency study of Colombian public universities in 2012, conducted using the methodology of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the models CCR, BCC and SBM under output orientation. The main objective is to determine technical, pure technical, scale and mix efficiencies using data acquired from the Ministry of National Education. An analysis of the results shows the extent to which outputs of inefficient Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) could be improved and the possible cause of this inefficiency. The universities were also ranked using a Pareto efficient cross-efficiency model and a study was made of changes to overall productivity between 2011 and 2012. The results showed Tolima, Caldas and UNAD to be the best-performing universities, with Universidad del Pacífico as the worst performer. Malmquist index was applied to analyze the change in productivity from 2011 to 2012. The Universidad de La Guajira showed great improvement in technical efficiency between 2011 and 2012.

Suggested Citation

  • Delimiro Visbal-Cadavid & Mónica Martínez-Gómez & Francisco Guijarro, 2017. "Assessing the Efficiency of Public Universities through DEA. A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-19, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:8:p:1416-:d:107966
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/8/1416/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/8/1416/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shawna Grosskopf & Kathy Hayes & Lori L. Taylor, 2014. "Applied efficiency analysis in education," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 19-26.
    2. De Witte, Kristof & Rogge, Nicky, 2011. "Accounting for exogenous influences in performance evaluations of teachers," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 641-653, August.
    3. Thanassoulis, Emmanuel & Shiraz, Rashed Khanjani & Maniadakis, Nikolaos, 2015. "A cost Malmquist productivity index capturing group performance," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 241(3), pages 796-805.
    4. Banker, Rajiv D. & Chang, Hsihui, 2006. "The super-efficiency procedure for outlier identification, not for ranking efficient units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 175(2), pages 1311-1320, December.
    5. Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2016. "Measuring Efficiency in Higher Education: An Empirical Study Using a Bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 22(1), pages 11-33, February.
    6. Woo, Chungwon & Chung, Yanghon & Chun, Dongphil & Seo, Hangyeol & Hong, Sungjun, 2015. "The static and dynamic environmental efficiency of renewable energy: A Malmquist index analysis of OECD countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 367-376.
    7. Agasisti, Tommaso & Barra, Cristian & Zotti, Roberto, 2016. "Evaluating the efficiency of Italian public universities (2008–2011) in presence of (unobserved) heterogeneity," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 47-58.
    8. Du, Juan & Cook, Wade D. & Liang, Liang & Zhu, Joe, 2014. "Fixed cost and resource allocation based on DEA cross-efficiency," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 235(1), pages 206-214.
    9. Per Andersen & Niels Christian Petersen, 1993. "A Procedure for Ranking Efficient Units in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(10), pages 1261-1264, October.
    10. 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.
    11. Avilés Sacoto, Sonia & Güemes Castorena, David & Cook, Wade D. & Cantú Delgado, Humberto, 2015. "Time-staged outputs in DEA," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-9.
    12. Geraint Johnes & Manuel Salas-Velasco, 2007. "The Determinants Of Costs And Efficiencies Where Producers Are Heterogeneous: The Case Of Spanish Universities," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 4(15), pages 1-9.
    13. Lili Tao & Xiaodong Liu & Yan Chen, 2013. "Online banking performance evaluation using data envelopment analysis and axiomatic fuzzy set clustering," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 1259-1273, February.
    14. Sourour Ramzi & Mohamed Ayadi, 2016. "Assessment of Universities Efficiency Using Data Envelopment Analysis: Weights Restrictions and Super-Efficiency Measure," Journal of Applied Management and Investments, Department of Business Administration and Corporate Security, International Humanitarian University, vol. 5(1), pages 40-58, February.
    15. Yang, Guo-liang & Yang, Jian-bo & Liu, Wen-bin & Li, Xiao-xuan, 2013. "Cross-efficiency aggregation in DEA models using the evidential-reasoning approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 231(2), pages 393-404.
    16. Tommaso Agasisti & Antonio Dal Bianco, 2009. "Measuring efficiency of Higher Education institutions," International Journal of Management and Decision Making, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(5/6), pages 443-465.
    17. R. D. Banker & A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1984. "Some Models for Estimating Technical and Scale Inefficiencies in Data Envelopment Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1078-1092, September.
    18. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:4:y:2007:i:15:p:1-9 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. David J Mayston, 2017. "Convexity, quality and efficiency in education," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 446-455, April.
    20. Jenkins, Larry & Anderson, Murray, 2003. "A multivariate statistical approach to reducing the number of variables in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(1), pages 51-61, May.
    21. 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.
    22. Wu, Jie & Chu, Junfei & Sun, Jiasen & Zhu, Qingyuan, 2016. "DEA cross-efficiency evaluation based on Pareto improvement," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(2), pages 571-579.
    23. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    24. E Bayraktar & E Tatoglu & S Zaim, 2013. "Measuring the relative efficiency of quality management practices in Turkish public and private universities," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 64(12), pages 1810-1830, December.
    25. Wijesiri, Mahinda & Meoli, Michele, 2015. "Productivity change of microfinance institutions in Kenya: A bootstrap Malmquist approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 115-121.
    26. Fang, Hsin-Hsiung & Lee, Hsuan-Shih & Hwang, Shiuh-Nan & Chung, Cheng-Chi, 2013. "A slacks-based measure of super-efficiency in data envelopment analysis: An alternative approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 731-734.
    27. Tone, Kaoru, 2001. "A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(3), pages 498-509, May.
    28. Holger Scheel & Stefan Scholtes, 2003. "Continuity of DEA Efficiency Measures," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 51(1), pages 149-159, February.
    29. Joe Zhu, 2014. "DEA Cross Efficiency," International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, in: Quantitative Models for Performance Evaluation and Benchmarking, edition 3, chapter 4, pages 61-92, Springer.
    30. Land, Kenneth C & Lovell, C A Knox & Thore, Sten, 1992. "Productive Efficiency under Capitalism and State Socialism: The Chance-Constrained Programming Approach," Public Finance = Finances publiques, , vol. 47(Supplemen), pages 109-121.
    31. Eskelinen, Juha, 2017. "Comparison of variable selection techniques for data envelopment analysis in a retail bank," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 259(2), pages 778-788.
    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. Li-Ting Yeh, 2017. "Incorporating Workplace Injury to Measure the Safety Performance of Industrial Sectors in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Elena I. Dobrolyubova & Alexandra N. Starostina, 2022. "Efficiency of Regional Public Expenditures on Education and Healthcare: Evaluation from Citizens’ Perspective," Finansovyj žhurnal — Financial Journal, Financial Research Institute, Moscow 125375, Russia, issue 4, pages 64-78, August.
    3. Dalina Dumitrescu & Ionela Costica & Liliana Nicoleta Simionescu & Stefan Cristian Gherghina, 2020. "DEA Approach Towards Exploring the Sustainability of Funding in Higher Education. Empirical Evidence from Romanian Public Universities," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 22(54), pages 593-593, April.
    4. Cristian Barra & Mónica Y. Castro-Peña & Jesús Gabalán Coello, 2024. "Research and knowledge transfer performance in Colombian universities," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 77-96, February.
    5. Shiva Moslemi & Hamidreza Izadbakhsh & Marzieh Zarinbal, 2019. "A new reliable performance evaluation model: IFB-IER–DEA," OPSEARCH, Springer;Operational Research Society of India, vol. 56(1), pages 14-31, March.
    6. Brzezicki Łukasz & Pietrzak Piotr & Cieciora Małgorzata, 2020. "The Total Efficiency of Teaching Activity of Polish Higher Education Institutions," Foundations of Management, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 19-30, January.
    7. Ghimire, Sarad & Amin, Saman Hassanzadeh & Wardley, Leslie J., 2021. "Developing new data envelopment analysis models to evaluate the efficiency in Ontario Universities," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(3).
    8. Samira El Gibari & Trinidad Gómez & Francisco Ruiz, 2022. "Combining reference point based composite indicators with data envelopment analysis: application to the assessment of universities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(8), pages 4363-4395, August.
    9. Cui, Yuan & Ren, Xian-tong & He, Xi-jie & Yang, Guo-liang, 2023. "Is human and financial investment in Chinese universities effective?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    10. Meena Yadav & Shiv Prasad Yadav, 2022. "Performance efficiency measurement of MGNREGA 2018-19 in Indian States and Union Territories based on DEA," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 13(4), pages 1714-1721, August.
    11. Alexander Arévalo S & Víctor Giménez G & Diego Prior J, 2022. "Análisis de eficiencia en educación: una aplicación del método StoNED," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE, vol. 92(2), pages 45-91, October.
    12. Shih-Pin Chen & Chung-Wei Chang, 2021. "Measuring the efficiency of university departments: an empirical study using data envelopment analysis and cluster analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(6), pages 5263-5284, June.
    13. Awadh Pratap Singh & Shiv Prasad Yadav & Preeti Tyagi, 2022. "Performance assessment of higher educational institutions in India using data envelopment analysis and re-evaluation of NIRF Rankings," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 13(2), pages 1024-1035, April.
    14. Huichen Jiang & Yifan He, 2018. "Applying Data Envelopment Analysis in Measuring the Efficiency of Chinese Listed Banks in the Context of Macroprudential Framework," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-18, September.

    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. Rezaeiani, M.J. & Foroughi, A.A., 2018. "Ranking efficient decision making units in data envelopment analysis based on reference frontier share," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(2), pages 665-674.
    2. Vicente J. Bolós & Rafael Benítez & Vicente Coll-Serrano, 2023. "Continuous models combining slacks-based measures of efficiency and super-efficiency," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 31(2), pages 363-391, June.
    3. Tran, Trung Hieu & Mao, Yong & Nathanail, Paul & Siebers, Peer-Olaf & Robinson, Darren, 2019. "Integrating slacks-based measure of efficiency and super-efficiency in data envelopment analysis," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 156-165.
    4. Cossani, Gianfranco & Codoceo, Loreto & Cáceres, Hernán & Tabilo, Jorge, 2022. "Technical efficiency in Chile’s higher education system: A comparison of rankings and accreditation," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    5. Marcel Clermont & Julia Schaefer, 2019. "Identification of Outliers in Data Envelopment Analysis," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 71(4), pages 475-496, October.
    6. Mousavi, Mohammad M. & Ouenniche, Jamal & Xu, Bing, 2015. "Performance evaluation of bankruptcy prediction models: An orientation-free super-efficiency DEA-based framework," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 64-75.
    7. Feng Li & Han Wu & Qingyuan Zhu & Liang Liang & Gang Kou, 2021. "Data envelopment analysis cross efficiency evaluation with reciprocal behaviors," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 302(1), pages 173-210, July.
    8. Jamal Ouenniche & Skarleth Carrales, 2018. "Assessing efficiency profiles of UK commercial banks: a DEA analysis with regression-based feedback," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 266(1), pages 551-587, July.
    9. Ya Chen & Yongjun Li & Liang Liang & Huaqing Wu, 2019. "An extension on super slacks-based measure DEA approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 278(1), pages 101-121, July.
    10. Joohwan Kim & Hwayoung Kim, 2021. "Evaluation of the Efficiency of Maritime Transport Using a Network Slacks-Based Measure (SBM) Approach: A Case Study on the Korean Coastal Ferry Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-17, May.
    11. Ghasemi, Mohammad Reza & Ignatius, Joshua & Rezaee, Babak, 2019. "Improving discriminating power in data envelopment models based on deviation variables framework," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(2), pages 442-447.
    12. Guo-Ya Gan & Hsuan-Shih Lee & Yu-Jwo Tao & Chang-Shu Tu, 2021. "Selecting Suitable, Green Port Crane Equipment for International Commercial Ports," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-19, June.
    13. Hashem Omrani & Khatereh Shafaat & Arash Alizadeh, 2019. "Integrated data envelopment analysis and cooperative game for evaluating energy efficiency of transportation sector: a case of Iran," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 274(1), pages 471-499, March.
    14. Sebastian Kohl & Jan Schoenfelder & Andreas Fügener & Jens O. Brunner, 2019. "The use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in healthcare with a focus on hospitals," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 245-286, June.
    15. Mergoni, Anna & Soncin, Mara & Agasisti, Tommaso, 2023. "The effect of ICT on schools’ efficiency: Empirical evidence on 23 European countries," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    16. Liu, John S. & Lu, Louis Y.Y. & Lu, Wen-Min, 2016. "Research fronts in data envelopment analysis," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 33-45.
    17. Alexander Arévalo S & Víctor Giménez G & Diego Prior J, 2022. "Análisis de eficiencia en educación: una aplicación del método StoNED," Revista Desarrollo y Sociedad, Universidad de los Andes,Facultad de Economía, CEDE, vol. 92(2), pages 45-91, October.
    18. Tommaso Agasisti & Cristian Barra & Roberto Zotti, 2019. "Research, knowledge transfer, and innovation: The effect of Italian universities’ efficiency on local economic development 2006−2012," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 819-849, November.
    19. An, Qingxian & Tao, Xiangyang & Xiong, Beibei & Chen, Xiaohong, 2022. "Frontier-based incentive mechanisms for allocating common revenues or fixed costs," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(1), pages 294-308.
    20. Mushtaq Taleb & Ruzelan Khalid & Ali Emrouznejad & Razamin Ramli, 2023. "Environmental efficiency under weak disposability: an improved super efficiency data envelopment analysis model with application for assessment of port operations considering NetZero," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 6627-6656, July.

    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:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:8:p:1416-:d:107966. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.