Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Assessing efficiency in the Spanish public universities through comparative non-radial and radial data envelopment analysis

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Tertiary Education and Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this study we have used data from Spanish public universities to assess their efficiency in a longitudinal framework between 2008/9–2014/15. To carry out the analysis, two windows data envelopment analysis and intertemporal, non-radial and radial analysis methodologies were compared. The main results show a significant deterioration in university efficiency from the 2012/13 academic year for the three proposed frontiers, with both methodologies. Some factors may explain these results, such as the ageing of teaching force and its low replacement rate of 10%, and the lack of incentives for young researchers who wish to pursue a research career, influenced by the presence of endogamy, in hiring or promotion. Finally, the resources necessary for the good governance of the Spanish public university with the consequent accountability of these, in terms of teaching, research and its transfer to society, could become a strategic issue that should be taken into account by all the actors involved.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbott, M., & Doucouliagos, C. (2003). The efficiency of Australian universities: A data envelopment analysis. Economics of Education Review, 22, 89–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abramo, G., D’Angelo, C. R., & Pugini, F. (2008). The measurement of Italian universities ‘research productivity by a non-parametric-bibliometric methodology. Scientometrics, 76(2), 225–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agasisti, T., & Bolli, T. (2013). The impact of the Bologna reform on the productivity of Swiss universities. Higher Education Quartely, 67(4), 374–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agasisti, T., & Dal Bianco, A. (2009). Reforming the university sector: Effects on teaching efficiency-evidence from Italy. Higher Education, 57(4), 477–489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ahn, T. (1987). Efficiency and related issues in Higher Education: A Data Envelopment Analysis approach, Ph. D. dissertation, Collage and Graduate School of Business, University of Texas, Austin.

  • Ahn, T. & Seirford, L. (1993). Sensitivity of DEA models and variable sets in a hypothesis test setting: The efficiency of university operations, en Ljiri (ed).

  • Angulo, M. L., Correia, B. S. de Mello J. C., Figueiredo G. J. S., & Moren P. (2018). Evaluation of post-graduate programs using a network data envelopment analysis model. DYNA, 85, 83–90.

  • Aparicio, L., Cordero, J. M., Gonzalez, M., & Lopez-Espin, J. J. (2017). Using non-radial DEA to assess school efficiency in a cross-country perspective: An empirical analysis of OECD countries. Omega, 1–12.

  • Athanassopoulos, A., & Shale, E. (1997). Assessing the comparative efficiency of higher education institutions in the UK by means of data envelopment analysis. Education Economic, 5(2), 117–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Avkiran, N. (2001). Investigating technical and scale efficiencies of Australian universities through data envelopment analysis. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 35, 57–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Badunenko, O. & Mozharovskyi, P (2016). Nonparametric frontier analysis using stata. Stata Journal

  • Banker, R. D., Charnes, A., & Cooper, W. W. (1984). Some models for estimating technical and scale efficiencies in data envelopment analysis. Management Science, 30(9), 1078–1092.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barra, C., Lagravinese, R., & Zotti, R. (2018). Does econometric methodology matter to rank universities? An analysis of Italian higher education system. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 62, 104–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolli, T., & Farsi, M. (2015). The dynamics of productivity in Swiss universities. Journal Productivity Analysis, 44, 21–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charnes, A., & Cooper, W. W. (1985). Preface to topics in data envelopment analysis. Annals of Operations Research, 2, 59–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charnes, A., Cooper, W. W., & Rhodes, E. (1978). Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. European Journal of Operational Research, 2, 429–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comisión de Expertos para la Reforma del Sistema Universitario Español 2013. Recovery https://www.mecd.gob.es/prensa-mecd/actualidad/2013/02/20130215-comision expertos.html

  • Cooper, W. W., Seiford, L. M., & Tone, K. (2000). Data envelopment analysis. Boston: Kluwer Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, W. W., Li, S., Tone, K., Tone, K., Tharall, R. M., & Zhu, J. (2001). Sensitivity and stability analysis in DEA: Some recent developments. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 15, 217–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cunha, M., & Rocha, V. (2012). On the efficiency of public higher education institutions in Portugal: An exploratory study. Research Work in Progress, 468.

  • de Castro, Delibes M (2017) retrieved https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/12/13/ciencia/1513156051_250460.html Accessed 16 December 2017

  • Debreu, G. (1951). The coefficient of resource utilization. Econometrica, 19, 273–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Detotto, C., Pulina, M., & Brida, J. G. (2014). Assessing the productivity of the Italian hospitality sector: A post-WDEA pooled-truncated and spatial analysis. Journal Productivity Analysis, 42(2), 102–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duch-Brown, N. & Vilalta, M. (2010): “Can better governance increase university efficiency?”, Documents de Treball de I’IEB 2010/52.

  • Dyson, R. G., Allen, R., Camanho, V. V., Sarrico, C. S., & Shale, E. A. (2001). Pitfall and protocols in DEA. European Journal of Operational Research, 132(2), 245–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • El País 2017 retrieved https://elpais.com/politica/2017/08/15/actualidad/1502788481_708679.html

  • El Pais 2018 Retrieved https://elpais.com/tag/crue_conferencia_rectores_universidades_espanolas/a

  • Farrell, M. J. (1957). The measurement of productive efficiency. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A, 120(3), 253–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flegg, A. T., Allen, D. O., Field, K., & Thurlow, T. W. (2004). Measuring the efficiency of British universities: A multi-period data envelopment analysis. Education Economics, 12(3), 231–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuentes, R., Fuster, B., & Lillo-Bañuls, A. (2016). A three-stage DEA model to evaluate learning teaching technical efficiency: Key performance indicators and contextual variables. Expert Systems with Applications, 48, 89–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • García-Aracil, A. & Palomares-Montero, D. (2008), “Methodological problems to measure university efficiency in relation with its geographic localization”. International Association of Technology, Education and Development (IATED). INTED2008 Proceedings.

  • García-Correas, A. & Larran Jorge, M. (2010) Análisis de diferentes medidas de la eficiencia docente, investigadora and de tercera misión and factores explicativos en las universidades públicas españolas. Gestión and Planificación de la Educación. Investigaciones de economía de la educación, 9, 445–469 Retrieved 24.05. 2017.

  • Gómez Sancho, J.M. (2001). La evaluación de la eficiencia en las universidades públicas españolas. X Jornadas AEDE, 411–434.

  • Gómez Sancho, J.M. (2005). La evaluación de la eficiencia productiva de las universidades públicas españolas. Tesis Doctoral, Zaragoza.

  • Gómez Sancho, J.M. & Mancebón Torrubia, M.J. (2012). La evaluación de la eficiencia de las universidades públicas españolas: En busca de una evaluación neutral entre áreas de conocimiento”. Presupuesto y Gasto Público. Secretaría de Estado de Presupuestos and Gastos. Instituto de Estudios Fiscales.

  • Gómez-Sancho, J.M.& Mancebon-Torrubia, M.J. (2008). Una propuesta de clasificación de las universidades públicas españolas en grupos comparables en los estudios de evaluación institucional. Revista Asturiana de Economia, 85–108.

  • Guccio, C., Martorana, M., & Mazza, I. (2017). The efficiency changes of Italian public universities in the new millennium: A non-parametric analysis. Tertiary Education and Management, 23(3), 222–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guironnet, J. P., & Peypoch, N. (2018). The geographical efficiency of education and research: The ranking of U.S. universities. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 62, 44–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halkos, G. E., & Tzeremes, N. G. (2009). Exploring the existence of Kuznets curve in countries’ environmental efficiency using DEA windows analysis. Ecological Economics, 68(7), 2168–2176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanke, M., & Leopoldser, T. (1998). Comparing the efficiency of international journal of Australian universities. Tertiary Education and Management, 4(3), 191–197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsiu-Ching, et al. (2014). A new perspective to explore the technology transfer efficiencies in US universities. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 39(2), 247–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnes, J. (2008). Efficiency and productivity change in the English higher education sector from 1996/97 to 2004/05. The Manchester School, 76(6), 653–674.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnes, J. (2018). University rankings. What do they really show? Scientometrics, 115, 585–606.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katharaki, M., & Katharakis, G. (2010). A comparative assessment of Greek universities ‘efficiency using quantitative analysis. International Journal of Education Research, 49, 1115–1128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klumpp, M. (2018). The index number problem with DEA: Insights from European University efficiency data. Education Sciences, 8(79), 1–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marinho, A., Resende, M., & FaCanha, L. (1997). Brazilian Federal Universities: Relative efficiency evaluation and data envelopment analysis. Revista Brasileira de Economía, 51(4), 489–508.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marti, M. L., Puertas, R., & Calafat, C. (2014). Calidad y eficiencia de las Universidades Públicas Españolas. Revista de Estudios Regionales, 99, 135–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministerio de Educación, Culturay Deporte. (2018) [Fichero de datos]. Recuperado de http://www.mecd.gob.es/portada-mecd/

  • Moro-Martin, A; Martin, P; Nieto, A; Matute, C; Muñoz-Tuñon, C; Guigó, R; Simón, MA. & Llorca, O;(2018) retrieved https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/07/16/eps/1531763162_319492.html. Accessed 25 July 2018

  • Observatorio IUNE. Retrieved 25.05.2018 http://www.iune.es/es_ES/actividad-cientifica/publicaciones-por-profesor/universidades-publicas

  • Observatorio Sistema Universitario (2017). ¿Quién financia la Universidad? Rectrieved 25.05.2018. http://www.observatoriuniversitari.org/es/

  • Rodríguez-Cornejo, V. (2013). Cambio en los modelos de financiación interna y eficiencia en la universidad. Tesis doctoral. Universidad de Cádiz.

  • Ruiz, J. L., José, V., Segura, J. V., & Sirvent, I. (2015). Benchmarking and target setting with expert preferences: An application to the evaluation of educational performance of Spanish universities. European Journal of Operational Research, 242, 595–605.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sagarra, M., Mar-Molinero, C., & Agasisti, T. (2017). Exploring the efficiency of Mexican universities: Integrating data envelopment analysis and multidimensional scaling. Omega, 67, 123–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun, D. B. (1988). Evaluation of managerial performance in large commercial banks by data envelopment analysis, Ph.D. Thesis, Graduate School of Business, Austin: The University of Texas.

  • Vallet Regi M (2018) retrieved https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/08/24/ciencia/1535110934_810395.html. Accessed 27 August 2018

  • Visbal-Cadavid, D., Martinez-Gómez, M., & Guijarro, F. (2017). Assessing the efficiency of public universities through DEA. A case study. Sustainability. 9(8), 1416, 2–19

  • Wolszczak-Derlacz, J. (2017). An evaluation and explanation of (in)efficiency in higher education institutions in Europe and the U.S. with the application of two-stage semiparametric DEA. Research Policy, 46, 1595–1605.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, G. L., Fukuyama, H., & Song, Y. Y. (2018). Measuring the inefficiency of Chinese research universities based on a two-stage network DEA model. Journal of Infometrics, 12, 10–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the comments and suggestions made by the evaluators, who have improved this work. Any error is the sole responsibility of the authors of this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain

    Justo de Jorge Moreno, Adriana González Robles, Antonio Martinez, Roberto Minero Calvo & Andrada Georgiana Miron

Authors
  1. Justo de Jorge Moreno
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Adriana González Robles
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Antonio Martinez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Roberto Minero Calvo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Andrada Georgiana Miron
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Justo de Jorge Moreno.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

de Jorge Moreno, J., González Robles, A., Martinez, A. et al. Assessing efficiency in the Spanish public universities through comparative non-radial and radial data envelopment analysis. Tert Educ Manag 25, 195–210 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11233-018-09017-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11233-018-09017-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation