Management Model and Strategic Management in Higher Education, Continuous Improvement, and Impact in Rankings

Abstract

The role of universities is crucial in creating knowledge that allows the development and improvement of societies. These days, higher education institutions are experiencing a complicated time. In this sense, problems as environmental insecurities, persisting war conflicts, child poverty, among others, are issues that affect contemporary societies and that have emerged around all the globe. Additionally, they have increased the levels of uncertainty regarding the future of societies. Considering this context, contemporary University has been challenged to generate holistic and efficient management, regarding, on the one hand, the problems and matters that face the society today, and on the other hand, the incorporation of advanced quality standards that are necessary to approach future challenges.

Thus, the paper aims to describe the institutional development achieved by Bernardo O’Higgins University (UBO, by its initials in Spanish) during the last decade and its academic management scope. To this purpose, different variables of the corporate performance of the University were analyzed and correlated, through the HJ-Biplot method, to show the relation between the various variables studied and the institutional mission of UBO. Hence, based on the analysis of a series of corporate indicators, the research seeks to verify that efficient management can improve the development indexes. As a hypothesis, we propose that the administrative features of UBO impacted positively quality, teaching, and research, which is demonstrated by the University’s position in national and international rankings in the last ten years.