Abstract
Little has been done on network DEA in education, and nobody has attempted to model the whole education supply chain using network DEA. As such the contribution of the present paper is to evaluate the efficiency of Tunisian education supply chain with a network DEA developed by Kao and Hwang (Eur J Oper Res 185:418–429, 2008). The idea consists on subdividing the education system into three sub-processes, where, primary, secondary and tertiary education are linked by intermediate variables. Input variables of the whole education system are “the number of schools” and “the number of students enrolled in the first year of basic education”. Output generated from basic education “Promoted pupils from basic education” is the only input used by secondary education. The output variable “Graduates from secondary education” is then used by tertiary education to produce the output of the whole education system which is “Graduates from tertiary education”. The results of assessment show that most governorates have a lower efficiency scores in tertiary education compared to efficiency in basic and secondary education. The results of the efficiency scores ranking demonstrate an important similarity between the ranks of the whole education system efficiency and the tertiary education efficiency. This result confirms that the inefficiency of education in Tunisia is mainly due to the inefficiency of tertiary education.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Basic education in Tunisia consists of 9 years of school education and it concerns children aged from 6 to 14 years old. It is divided in two complementary cycles: first cycle (provided in primary schools for a period of 6 year) and secondary cycle (provided in colleges with duration of 3 years), (Afonso et al. 2013).
Secondary education in Tunisia is available to holders of diploma at the end of basic education’s study and it lasts for 4 years (Afonso et al. 2013).
Tertiary education in Tunisia represents the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education. In Tunisia, tertiary education Tunisia is provided by Universities, Higher Institutions of Technological Studies (ISET) and Higher Institutes of Teachers Training (IGH) (Ramzi and Ayadi 2016).
References
Abbott, M., and C. Doucouliagos. 2003. The efficiency of Australian universities: a data envelopment analysis. Economics of Education Review 22 (1): 89–97.
Afonso, A., M. Ayadi, and S. Ramzi. 2013. Assessing productivity performance of basic and secondary education in Tunisia: a malmquist analysis. Journal of Business & Economics 5 (1): 104–128.
Ahn, T., A. Charnes, and W.W. Cooper. 1988. Some statistical and DEA evaluations of relative efficiencies of public and private institutions of higher learning. Socio Economic Planning Sciences 22 (6): 259–269.
Ahn, T., V. Arnold, A. Charnes, and W.W. Cooper. 1989. DEA and ratio efficiency analyses for public institutions of higher learning in Texas. Research in Governmental and Nonprofit Accounting Journal 5: 165–185.
Avkiran, N.K. 2001. Investigating technical and scale efficiencies of Australian universities through data envelopment analysis. Scio-Economic Planning Sciences 35 (1): 57–80.
Bahinipati, K., A. Kanda, and S.G. Deshmukh. 2009. Coordinated supply management: review, insights, and limitations. International Journal of Logistic Research and Applications 12 (6): 407–422.
Charnes, A., W.W. Cooper, and E. Rhodes. 1981. Evaluating program and managerial efficiency: an application of data envelopment analysis to program follow through. Management Science 27 (6): 668–697.
Castelli, L., R. Pesenti, and W. Ukovich. 2004. DEA-like models for the efficiency evaluation of hierarchically structured units. European Journal of Operational Research 154 (2): 465–476.
Celik, O., and A. Ecer. 2009. Efficiency in accounting education: evidence from Turkish Universities. Critical Perspectives on Accounting 20 (5): 614–634.
Chang, T.Y., P.H. Chung, and S.S. Hsu. 2012. Two-stage performance model for evaluating the managerial efficiency of tertiary education: Application by the Taiwanese tourism and leisure department. Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education 11 (2): 168–177.
Färe, R., and G. Whittaker. 1995. An intermediate input model of dairy production using complex survey data. Journal of Agriculture Economics 46 (2): 201–2013.
Gander, J.P. 1995. Academic research and teaching productivities: A case study. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 49 (3): 311–319.
Kao, C., and S.N. Hwang. 2008. Efficiency decomposition in two-stage data envelopment analysis: An application to non-life insurance companies in Taiwan. European Journal of Operational Research 185: 418–429.
Liang, L., Z.Q. Li, W.D. Cook, and J. Zhu. 2011. Data envelopment analysis efficiency in two-stage networks with feedback. IIE Transactions 43 (5): 309–322.
Liu, J.S., L.Y. Lu, W.L. Lu, and B. Lin. 2013. A survey of DEA applications. Omega 41 (5): 893–902.
Mohamed Ali, S.M., and S. Mahsa. 2013. Network DEA: an application to analysis of academic performance. Journal of Industrial Engineering International 9 (1): 15.
Ramzi, S., and M. Ayadi. 2016. Assessment of universities efficiencies using data envelopment analysis: weights restrictions and super-efficiency measure. Journal of Applied Management and Investments 5 (1): 40–58.
Rayeni, M.M., and F.H. Saljooghi. 2010. Network Data envelopment analysis model for estimating efficiency and productivity in universities. Journal of Computer Science 6 (11): 1252–1257.
Seiford, L.M., and J. Zhu. 1999. Profitability and Marketability of the Top 55 U.S. Commercial Banks. Management Science 45 (9): 1270–1288.
Wang, C.H., R.D. Gopal, and S. Zionts. 1997. Use of Data Envelopment Analysis in assessing Information Technology impact on firm performance. Annals of Operations Research 73:191–213.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ramzi, S. Modeling the Education Supply Chain with Network DEA Model: The Case of Tunisia. J. Quant. Econ. 17, 525–540 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40953-018-0131-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40953-018-0131-x