This article evaluates both technical efficiency (TE) and scale efficiency (SE) of 16 Irish public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) over the period 2015-2020. The external efficiency factors such as state grants, type of HEIs, location, age and quality are also evaluated. The relatively small data sample of public HEIs in Ireland requires application of a non-parametric DEA. Though, this research applies its modern extensions such as homogenous-bootstrap (HB) and double-bootstrap (DB), as well as conditional DEA approaches. The findings of this research suggest that both traditional and bootstrapping DEA models underestimate TEs and SEs of HEIs compared to the conditional order-m DEA approach. The average TE for all HEIs is between 83 and 89%, while TE scores also increased over time and HEIs are 100% technically efficient under our preferred conditional order-m DEA. However, HEIs are scale inefficient further inferring that higher productivity of HEIs could be achieved through improving their SE rather than pure TE. Nonetheless, both DB DEA and conditional order-m DEA results provide comparable and therefore robust findings with regard to the estimated effects of external factors on TE scores. Importantly, we find that the larger universities in Ireland are more technically efficient than the smaller Institutes of Technology. We also find that underfunding of Irish universities leads to a greater trade-off between their efficiency levels and quality, as measured by international university ratings, while HEIs located in regions with lower GDP should be supported more. Within this context some policy implications are discussed.</p
