Title: Measuring efficiency of Higher Education institutions

Authors: Tommaso Agasisti, Antonio Dal Bianco

Addresses: Politecnico di Milano, Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, p.za Leonardo da Vinci, 32, 20133 Milano, Italy. ' IReR – Istituto Regionale di Ricerca della Lombardia, via Copernico, 38, 20125 Milan, Italy

Abstract: In this paper, we use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier (SF) analysis to obtain efficiency ranking and scores of Italian universities. The results are then compared. Differences between DEA and SF results are more attributable to heterogeneity among universities than to differences in methodologies. Indeed, after clustering universities in homogenous groups, similarities between DEA and SF results emerge. Finally, some policy implications are derived.

Keywords: HE; higher education; universities; efficiency measurement; cost recovery; DEA; data envelopment analysis; stochastic frontier analysis; Italy; efficiency ranking.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMDM.2009.026687

International Journal of Management and Decision Making, 2009 Vol.10 No.5/6, pp.443 - 465

Received: 08 Jan 2008
Accepted: 09 Oct 2008
Published online: 23 Jun 2009 *

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