Abstract
Operations Research (OR) is an interdisciplinary discipline that evolved during WWII to solve complex operational military problems such as scarce resource allocations and logistics. Thereafter, it has been used successfully in the private and public sectors—including in higher education (HE). The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the use of OR methodologies in HE and the functional areas in which they are used. First, a search in 40 OR journals reveals that HE and OR methodology appeared in the title of 0.3% of their articles during 1950–2019. Moreover, in 17 OR journals, HE did not appear in any article. Second, looking at the web of science during 2000–2019, we identified 58 main OR methods relevant to HE. Leading these methods (in terms of the number of articles) is simulation. Third, we identified 30 functional areas relevant to HE. Leading these areas is strategy. For specific methods by area, the leading combination is data envelopment analysis by efficiency. In summary, there is great potential for academics in OR to utilize OR models to improve their own HE system, especially during and after crises such as a pandemic.
Access this chapter
We’re sorry, something doesn't seem to be working properly.
Please try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, please contact support so we can address the problem.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aldowah, H., Al-Samarraie, H., & Fauzy, W.-M. (2019). Educational data mining and learning analytics for 21st century higher education: A review and synthesis. Telematics and Informatics, 37, 13–49.
Almog, T., & Almog, O. (2020). Academia—All the lies: What went wrong in the University Model and What will come in its Place. Haifa University Publishing.
Altbach, P., & de Wit, H. (2018). Are we facing a fundamental challenge to higher education internationalization? International Higher Education, 2(93), 2–4.
Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & de Wit, H. (2017). Responding to massification: Differentiation in Post-secondary education worldwide. Sense Publishers.
Baldwin, G., & James, R. (2000). The market in Australian higher education and the concept of student as informed consumer. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 22(2), 139–148.
Barrett, L. R. (1996). On students as customers—Some warnings from America. Higher Education Review, 28(3), 70–71.
Bell, G., Warwick, J., & Galbraith, P. (2012). Higher education management and operational research: Demonstrating new practices and metaphor. In M. Peters (Ed.), Educational Futures Rethinking Theory and Practice (Vol. 54). Sense Publication.
Brookes, M. (2003). Higher education: Marketing in a quasi-commercial service industry. International Journal of Non-profit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 8(2), 134–142.
Cheng, T. C. E. (1993). Operations research and higher education administration. Journal of Educational Administration, 31(1), 77–91.
Churchman, C. W., Ackoff, R. L., & Arnoff, E. L. (1957). Introduction to Operations Research. Wiley.
Cohen, M., & March, J. (1986). Leadership and Ambiguity, the American College President (2nd ed.). Harvard Business School Press.
Conway, T., Mackay, S., & Yorke, D. (1994). Strategic planning in higher education: who are the customers? International. Journal of Educational Management, 8(6), 29–36.
Cooper, W. W. (1999). Operational research/Management Science: Where it’s been. Where it should be going. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 50, 3–11.
Crawford, J., Butler-Henderson, K., Rudolph, J., Malkawi, B., Glowatz, M., Burton, R., Magni, P. A., & Lam, S. (2020). COVID-19: 20 countries higher education intra-period digital pedagogy responses. Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 3(1), 1–20.
De la Torre, E. M., Sagarra, M., & Agasisti, T. (2016). Assessing organizations’ efficiency adopting complementary perspectives: An empirical analysis through data envelopment analysis and multidimensional scaling, with an application to higher education. In S.-N. Hwang, H.-S. Lee, & J. Zhu (Eds.), Handbook of operations analytics using data envelopment analysis (International Series in Operations Research & Management Science) (pp. 145–166). Chief Ed. Zhu J.
De Wit, H., & Altbach, P. (2020). Internationalization in higher education: Global trends and recommendations for its future. Policy Reviews in Higher Education, 5(1), 28–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322969.2020.1820898
Editorial notes. (1950). Journal of Operational Research Society, 1(1), 1–2.
Etzkowitz, H. (2001). The second academic revolution and the rise of entrepreneurial science. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, 20(2), 18–29.
Etzkowitz, H., & Zhou, C. (2018). The Triple Helix: University-Industry-Government Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Gass, S. I., & Fu, M. C. (Eds.). (2013). Encyclopedia of operations research and management science. Springer.
Gibbs, P. (2018). Higher education marketing—Does inducing anxiety facilitate critical thinking or more consumerism? Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 28(1), 1–11.
Gleason, N. W. (2018). Higher education in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. Palgrave Macmillam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0194-0_1
Goldin, C., & Katz, L. F. (1999). The shaping of higher education: The formative years in the United States, 1890 to 1940. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 13(1), 37–62.
Hartcup, G. (2000). Birth of a new Science: Operational research. In G. Hartcup & B. Lovell (Eds.), The effect of Science on the Second World War (pp. 100–121). Palgrave Macmillan.
Hemsley-Brown, J., & Oplatka, I. (2006). Universities in a competitive global marketplace: A systematic review of the literature on higher education marketing. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 19(4), 316–338.
Hicklin, K., Ivy, J. S., & Vila-Parrish, A. R. (2017). A prescription for budget Woes at Gracious University Hospital. INFORMS Transactions on Education, 17(3), 107–109.
Hillier, F. S., & Lieberman, G. J. (2014). Introduction to operations research (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Horizon. (2020). Retrieved August 2020, from https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/sites/.horizon2020/files/H2020_inBrief_EN_FinalBAT.pdf
Johnes, J. (2015). Operational research in education. European Journal of Operational Research, Operational Research in education, 243(3), 683–696.
Krishnan, K., & Wang, P. (2019). The cost of financing education: Can student debt Hinder Entrepreneurship? Management Science, 65(10) https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2995
Marshall, S. J. (2018). Shaping the University of the Future: Using Technology to Catalyse Change in University Learning and Teaching. Springer.
Merigo, J. M., & Yang, J.-B. A. (2017). Bibliometric Analysis of Operations Research and Management Science. Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, 73(c), 37–48.
Mingers, J., & Gill, A. (Eds.). (1997). Multi Methodology: The theory and practice of combining management science methodologies. Wiley.
Mosteanu, N. R. (2020). Using internet and EduTech become a primary need rather than a luxury—The reality: A new skilled educational system—Digital university campus. International Journal of Engineering Technologies, 4(6), 1–9.
Oplatka, I., & Hemsley-Brown, J. (2021). A systematic and updated review of the literature on higher education marketing 2005–2019. In Z. Sinuany-Stern (Ed.), Handbook of Operations Research and Management Science in Higher Education. Springer.
Porter, W. W., Graham, C. R., Spring, K. A., & Welch, K. R. (2014). Blended learning in higher education: Institutional adoption and implementation. Computer and Education, 75, 185–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2014.02.011
Romero, C., & Ventura, S. (2020). Educational data mining and learning analytics: An updated survey. WIREs Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/widm.1355
Sahu, P. (2020). Closure of Universities Due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Impact on education and mental health of students and academic staff. Cureus, 12(4), e7541. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.7541
Schierenbeck, C. (2013). Fixing Higher Education: A Business Manager’s Take on How to Boost Productivity in Higher Education. Springer.
Schroeder, R. G. (1973). A survey of management science in university operations. Management Science, 19(8), 841–971.
Schwab, K., & Davis, N. (2018). Shaping the future of the fourth industrial revolution: A Guide to Building a Better World. World Economic Forum, Currency.
Sinuany-Stern, Z., Mehrez, A., & Barboy, A. (1994). Academic departments’ efficiency via DEA. Computers & Operations Research, 21(5), 543–556.
Slaughter, S., & Leslie, L. L. (1997). Academic Capitalism: Politics, Policies, and the Entrepreneurial University. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Stewart, T. A., (1997) Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations. Doubleday.
Taha, H. A. (2017). Operations research: An introduction (10th ed.). Pearson.
Terrey, I. N. (1968). Program budgeting and other newer management tools in higher education: A description and annotated bibliography. Center for Development of Community College Education. University of Washington Paper no. 6, Seattle, Washington.
Thelin, J. R. (2018). Missions impossible: Prospects and planning in American Higher Education. Society, 55, 556–559.
Tole, A. A., & Czarnitzki, D. (2010). Commercializing Science: Is there a University “Brain Drain” from Academic Entrepreneurship? Management Science, 56(9), 1599–1614.
Trick, M. (2018). Getting the world out of Operational Research. IFORS News, 12(4), 1.
UN. (2020). Retrieved June 2020, from http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries
Winston, W. L. (2004). Operations Research: Applications and Algorithms (4th ed.). Thomson Learning.
Wong, J., Baars, M., Davis, D., Van Der Zee, T., Houben, G.-J., & Paas, F. (2019). Supporting Self-regulated learning in online learning environments and MOOCs: A systematic review. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 35(4), 356–373.
World Bank. (2020). Retrieved February 2020, from https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/tertiaryeducation
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendices
Appendix 1: The number of articles published in 40 OR journals with HE in their title during 1980–2019
Appendix 2: The number of articles published in WoS Journals with HE and OR methoda 2000–2019
Appendix 3: The number of articles published in WoS journals with HE and functional areaa during 2000–2019
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sinuany-Stern, Z. (2021). Operations Research and Management Science in Higher Education: An Overview. In: Sinuany-Stern, Z. (eds) Handbook of Operations Research and Management Science in Higher Education. International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, vol 309. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74051-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74051-1_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-74049-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-74051-1
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)