Cost Structure, Efficiency and Heterogeneity in US Higher Education: An Empirical Analysis

We estimate a variety of models to evaluate costs in US higher education institutions. A novel feature of our approach involves the estimation of latent class and random parameter stochastic frontier models of the multiproduct cost function. This allows us fully to accommodate both the heterogeneity of institutions and the presence of technical inefficiencies. Our findings suggest that global economies could be achieved by effecting a reduction in the number of institutions providing undergraduate instruction, while increasing the number of institutions engaged in postgraduate activity

Cost Structure, Efficiency and Heterogeneity in US Higher Education: An Empirical Analysis

We estimate a variety of models to evaluate costs in US higher education institutions. A novel feature of our approach involves the estimation of latent class and random parameter stochastic frontier models of the multiproduct cost function. This allows us fully to accommodate both the heterogeneity of institutions and the presence of technical inefficiencies. Our findings suggest that global economies could be achieved by effecting a reduction in the number of institutions providing undergraduate instruction, while increasing the number of institutions engaged in postgraduate activity.

The effect of ICT on schools’ efficiency: Empirical evidence on 23 European countries

In the last two decades, ICT use in schools grew exponentially. In this paper, the relationship between ICT and school’s efficiency and the mechanisms through which ICT can enhance schools’ productivity are investigated, using PISA 2018 data for about 5400 schools. Empirically, we analyze school’s efficiency in producing ICT-mediated instructional time as well as final educational output, by implementing a network Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model. The analysis is complemented by a conditional DEA to account for the presence of possible external drivers of schools’ efficiency. Results show that the average schools’ efficiency in using ICT is relatively low, and that it is mainly driven by the ability of translating ICT-mediated instructional time into learning, rather than by the amount of ICT and human resources. This evidence is consistent across countries. By investigating the role of ICT in schools’ efficiency the paper provides insights to guide the transition of digital technology into learning

What School Factors are Associated with the Success of Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Students? An Empirical Investigation Using PISA Data

Many school-level policies, such as school funding formulae and teacher allocation mechanisms, aim at reducing the influence of students’ low socio-economic condition on academic achievement. Benchmarks and indicators based on large-scale international assessments can be used to measure academic success and identify if and when disadvantaged students are successful. We build on such work and develop a new method for identifying a cross-country comparable metric of the academic success of socio-economically disadvantaged students using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We estimate the prevalence of successful disadvantaged students in 56 countries, as well as changes over time between 2006 and 2015. In addition, we focus on the PISA 2015 edition and explore school factors associated with the probability that disadvantaged students will be successful academically in a subsample of 18 countries. Findings reveal that successful disadvantaged students attend schools with a better disciplinary climate and that provide additional time for instruction in key subjects

What School Factors are Associated with the Success of Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Students? An Empirical Investigation Using PISA Data

Many school-level policies, such as school funding formulae and teacher allocation mechanisms, aim at reducing the influence of students’ low socio-economic condition on academic achievement. Benchmarks and indicators based on large-scale international assessments can be used to measure academic success and identify if and when disadvantaged students are successful. We build on such work and develop a new method for identifying a cross-country comparable metric of the academic success of socio-economically disadvantaged students using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). We estimate the prevalence of successful disadvantaged students in 56 countries, as well as changes over time between 2006 and 2015. In addition, we focus on the PISA 2015 edition and explore school factors associated with the probability that disadvantaged students will be successful academically in a subsample of 18 countries. Findings reveal that successful disadvantaged students attend schools with a better disciplinary climate and that provide additional time for instruction in key subjects

The Costs, Quality, and Scalability of Blended Learning in Postgraduate Management Education

With its combination of online and face-to-face interaction, blended learning is increasingly being employed in postgraduate education. To date, most empirical research on the topic has focused on the design and relative effectiveness of online versus in-person learning. Meanwhile, any exploration of the costs of its delivery has often been neglected. In this study, we propose a framework to assess the costs and cost-effectiveness of alternative designs of blended postgraduate programs, and then empirically apply it to an innovative blended Master of Business Administration (MBA) course as compared with similar MBAs taught at the same institution, with the differences lying in their proportions of online content and the intensity of their use. We applied the Community of Inquiry framework to show that the program with the most intensive use of online learning is also the most effective in terms of student cognitive gain. However, it is not the most cost-effective when compared to other, less online-intensive alternatives. We also found that this result depends on the scalability constraints imposed by the design of the programs. The implications of the scalability versus the quality versus the costs of blended education are then discussed

Relational arenas in a regional Higher Education system: Insights from an empirical analysis

Extant indicators on research and higher education do not consider the complex relational structure in which universities are embedded and that influences their performance on one side, and the impact of policies on the other. This article investigates the overall pattern of universities' relational arenas in a Regional environment by considering their two main domains of activity, namely research and teaching. We study their structure, determinants, and existing interactions, in order to understand the possible consequences for policy making and management, and to identify synthetic indicators to represent the

Multilevel modeling of heterogeneity in math achievements: different class- and school-effects across Italian regions

Catching the differences in educational attainments between groups of students and across schools is becoming increasingly interesting. With the aim of assessing the extent of these differences in the context of Italian educational system, the paper applies multilevel modeling to a dataset containing detailed information of students\u2019 math attainments at grade 6 of primary school in the year 2011/12, provided by the Italian Institute for the Evaluation of Educational System (Invalsi)

Efficiency of European public higher education institutions: a two-stage multicountry approach

The purpose of this study is to examine efficiency and its determinants in a set of higher education institutions (HEIs) from several European countries by means of non-parametric frontier techniques. Our analysis is based on a sample of 259 public HEIs from 7 European countries across the time period of 2001–2005. We conduct a two-stage DEA analysis (Simar and Wilson in J Economet 136:31–64, 2007), first evaluating DEA scores and then regressing them on potential covariates with the use of a bootstrapped truncated regression. Results indicate a considerable variability of efficiency scores within and between countries. Unit size (economies of scale), number and composition of faculties, sources of funding and gender staff composition are found to be among the crucial determinants of these units’ performance. Specifically, we found evidence that a higher share of funds from external sources and a higher number of women among academic staff improve the efficiency of the institution

Approaching effects of the economic crisis on university efficiency: a comparative study of Germany and Italy

In this paper, we compare the efficiency of the Italian and German universities in the process of transforming public funding into the multiple outputs of a university, i.e. graduating students, publishing research, and patenting activity. We do this with a particular focus on the policies implemented following the financial crisis in 2008. Using a sample of 133 public universities, of which 73 public universities in Germany and 60 public universities in Italy observed over the period 2006–2011 we find that Italian universities perform significantly better in terms of output maximization than German universities. The crisis does not show a general impact, while the treatment effect indicates that Italian universities coped better during the crisis than their German counterparts at a highly significant level