Cross-country analysis of higher education institutions’ efficiency: The role of strategic positioning

Universities are highly heterogeneous institutions and this diversity needs to be acknowledged when assessing their performance. Using an unbalanced panel that covers a 3-year period (2011–3) with 761 observations coming from 307 universities located in 8 European countries, this study examines the...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Agasisti, Tommaso, Berbegal Mirabent, Jasmina|||0000-0001-5145-2179
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/359401
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/359401
https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scaa058
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Universities and colleges--Administration
Universities and colleges -- Planning
Efficiency
Higher education institutions
International comparison
Strategic positioning
Universitats -- Administració
Universitats -- Planificació
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Economia i organització d'empreses::Gestió i direcció
Descripción
Sumario:Universities are highly heterogeneous institutions and this diversity needs to be acknowledged when assessing their performance. Using an unbalanced panel that covers a 3-year period (2011–3) with 761 observations coming from 307 universities located in 8 European countries, this study examines the extent to which strategic choices regarding international positioning and scope determine how efficient universities are in the allocation of their internal resources. Three main groups of universities are identified, according to their internationalisation and scope: world-class, flagship, and regional. Next, we model universities’ objective function as a mix of teaching, research, and third mission endeavours, and calculate efficiency scores. A meta-frontier analysis based on data envelopment analysis is used. This approach allows comparing efficiency frontiers across groups and relative to a common frontier. Policy implications within and between groups are discussed.