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Measuring the efficiency of university departments: an empirical study using data envelopment analysis and cluster analysis

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  • Shih-Pin Chen

    (National Chung Cheng University)

  • Chung-Wei Chang

    (National Chung Cheng University)

Abstract

Universities continue to play a key role in the development of a country. As university income streams shift away from government and as the income from admissions decline under the sub-replacement fertility phenomenon, the efficiency of resource utilization has become an important issue for university administrators. This paper applies data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the concept of an assurance region to evaluate the relative efficiency (including aggregate, technical, and scale efficiencies) of academic departments at National Chung Cheng University in Taiwan. The input factors considered are personnel (expressed in the number of faculty-equivalent persons), operating expenses, and floor area, and the output factors are teaching (expressed in total credit hours), publications (expressed in the number of papers), and external grants. Notably, teaching quality is included by considering the classroom capacity in calculating credit hours, and publication quality is included by considering the author contribution to calculate the single-author-equivalent numbers of papers. In addition, a cluster analysis based on the efficiency decomposition to the contributions of the three outputs is applied to classify the departments into three groups. The results of this paper not only provide the department head with the relative efficiency and improvement directions for the department but also serve as a reference for resource allocation and future strategy development for the university administration.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:126:y:2021:i:6:d:10.1007_s11192-021-03982-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-021-03982-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Salas-Velasco, Manuel, 2024. "Evaluation of undergraduate academic programs through data envelopment analysis and time-to-degree estimates at Spanish public universities," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Bojun Hou & Pengcheng Jin & Xing Tang & Jin Hong & Peng Zhou, 2024. "The Internal Determinants of Innovation Efficiency in Chinese Universities: A Perspective from Embeddedness Theory," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 65(7), pages 1679-1713, November.
    3. Ece Ucar & E. Ertugrul Karsak, 2024. "Evaluating Educational Performance of OECD Countries with Common-Weight DEA-Based Models," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 13673-13700, September.
    4. Pei Chen & Shan Gao & Fan Jiang & Yifang Ma, 2024. "Measuring the labor market outcomes of universities: evidence from China’s listed company executives," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(9), pages 5715-5730, September.

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