Skip to main content
Log in

Enhancing University Performance Evaluation through Digital Technology: A Deep Learning Approach for Sustainable Development

  • Published:
Journal of the Knowledge Economy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the era of sustainable development, the evaluation of higher education institutions’ performance has gained paramount importance. This paper presents a novel approach to university performance evaluation by harnessing the power of digital technology, specifically deep learning techniques. Building upon the foundation of sustainable development theory and the experiences of developed countries, we propose a multi-classification model for university performance evaluation, offering both technical methods and theoretical underpinning for educational reform. Our research focuses on the integration of digital technology, including artificial intelligence, deep learning, and data mining, into the assessment of university performance. We employ a multi-layer restricted Boltzmann machines (RBMs) feature extraction approach coupled with the SoftMax classifier to enhance the accuracy of university performance predictions. The paper provides a comprehensive description of the model’s architecture, the forward propagation process, and the solution methodology. Comparative experiments are conducted to evaluate various feature extraction methods, highlighting the superior feature expression capabilities of RBMs over traditional approaches. The results demonstrate that our proposed model surpasses the SoftMax classifier and Deep Belief Networks (DBN) in terms of prediction accuracy, average accuracy, and average recall rate, indicating its practical significance in performance evaluation. While our study offers valuable insights and advancements in university performance assessment, we acknowledge the need for further exploration of potential trade-offs, computational complexity, model interpretability, and generalization performance. These aspects warrant continued investigation to refine and optimize our approach for the benefit of the knowledge economy, innovation, entrepreneurship, and society at large.

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

Access this article

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The data can be obtained according to the requirements.

References

  • Altbach, P., & de Wit, H. (2020). Postpandemic outlook for higher education is bleakest for the poorest. International Higher Education, 102, 3–5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anju, P., Raj, A. A. B., & Shekhar, C. (2020). Pulse Doppler processing-A novel digital technique. 2020 4th International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Control Systems (ICICCS) (pp. 1089–1095). IEEE.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Armytage, W. H. G. (2018). Thoughts after Robbins (pp. 77–100). Routledge: The New University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Auranen, O., & Nieminen, M. (2010). University research funding and publication performance-An international comparison. Research Policy, 39(6), 822–834.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daraio, C., Bonaccorsi, A., & Simar, L. (2015). Rankings and university performance: A conditional multidimensional approach. European Journal of Operational Research, 244(3), 918–930.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De, W. A. (2017). Strategic performance management: A managerial and behavioral approach. Bloomsbury Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrell, B. R., Twaddle, M. L., Melnick, A., & Diane, E. (2018). National consensus project clinical practice guidelines for quality palliative care guidelines. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 21(12), 1684–1689.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geiger, T., & Pivovarova, M. (2018). The effects of working conditions on teacher retention. Teachers and Teaching, 24(6), 604–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibb, A. (2000). Small and medium enterprise development: Borrowing from elsewhere? A research and development agenda. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 7(3), 199–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hallinger, P., & Chatpinyakoop, C. (2019). A bibliometric review of research on higher education for sustainable development, 1998–2018. Sustainability, 11(8), 2401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holmberg, J., & Sandbrook, R. (2019). Sustainable development: What is to be done? Policies for a small planet (pp. 19–38). Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joanicjusz, N., & Jonas, S. (2014). Application of DEA method in efficiency evaluation of public higher education institutions. Technological and Economic development of Economy, 20(1), 25–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnes, J., & Li, Y. (2008). Measuring the research performance of Chinese higher education institutions using data envelopment analyses. China Economic Review, 19, 679–696.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kempkes, G., & Pohl, C. (2010). The efficiency of German universities–Some evidence from nonparametric and parametric methods. Applied Economics, 42(16), 2063–2079.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khosla, R., Miranda, N. D., Trotter, P. A., Mazzone, A., Renaldi, R., McElroy, C., Cohen, F., Jani, A., Perera-Salazar, R., & McCulloch, M. (2021). Cooling for Sustainable Development. Nature Sustainability, 4(3), 201–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lăzăroiu, G. (2017). Is there an absence of capability in sustainable development in universities? Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(14), 1305–1308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linton, G., & Klinton, M. (2019). University entrepreneurship education: A design thinking approach to learning. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 8(1), 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mone, E. M., & London, M. (2018). Employee engagement through effective performance management: A practical guide for managers. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nazarko, J., & Šaparauskas, J. (2014). Application of DEA method in efficiency evaluation of public higher education institutions. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 20(1), 25–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Flaherty, J., & Liddy, M. (2018). The impact of development education and education for sustainable development interventions: A synthesis of the research. Environmental Education Research, 24(7), 1031–1049.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pietrzak, M., Pietrzak, P., & Baran, J. (2016). Efficiency assessment of public higher education with the application of data envelopment analysis: The evidence from Poland. Online Journal of Applied Knowledge Management (OJAKM), 4(2), 59–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Purwanti, Y. (2021). The influence of digital marketing & innovation on the school performance. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education (TURCOMAT), 12(7), 118–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reznichenko, S. M., Takhumova, O. V., Zaitseva, N. A., Larionova, A. A., & Dashkova, E. V. (2018). Methodological aspects of assessing factors affecting the sustainable development of the region. Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, 8(11), 69–79.

    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 

  • Sarmah, R., & Aayushi, S. (2022). Effectiveness of social advertisement campaigns for societal improvement. International Journal of Social Ecology and Sustainable Development (IJSESD), 13(1), 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silvestre, B. S., & Ţîrcă, D. M. (2019). Innovations for sustainable development: Moving toward a sustainable future. Journal of Cleaner Production, 208, 325–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sum, N., & Bob, J. (2013). Competitiveness, the knowledge-based economy and higher education. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 4, 24–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tariq, A., Badir, Y., & Chonglerttham, S. (2019). Green innovation and performance: Moderation analyses from Thailand. European Journal of Innovation Management, 22(3), 446–467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van, D. W., Bouckaert, G., & Halligan, J. (2015). 2015. Performance management in the public sector.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, D. J. (2010). Measuring corporate social performance: A review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1), 50–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

SX was responsible for researching the conceptual design and interpretation of the results. SS was responsible for data collection and analysis and project management. All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shuyan Xu.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed Consent

The authors declare that all the authors have informed consent.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

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

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Xu, S., Sze, S. Enhancing University Performance Evaluation through Digital Technology: A Deep Learning Approach for Sustainable Development. J Knowl Econ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-024-01928-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-024-01928-7

Keywords

Navigation