Efficiency in higher education. Empirical study in public universities of Colombia and Spain/Eficiencia no ensino superior. Estudo empirico em universidades publicas da Colombia e Espanha/Eficiencia en la educacion superior. Estudio empirico en universidades publicas de Colombia y Espana

• Published in: Revista de administração pública (Rio de Janeiro) 2020-05, Vol.54 (3), p.468
• Main Authors: Ramirez-Gutierrez, Zoraida, Barrachina-Palanca, Mercedes, Ripoll-Feliu, Vicente
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; por
• Subjects: Analysis; Education, Higher; Public sector
• ISSN: 0034-7612
• DOI: 10.1590/0034-761220190232x

In recent decades, Iberoamerican universities have introduced new quality assessment and accountability schemes, inspired by the New Public Management (NGP) model. In this context, efficiency in the distribution of public funds and obtaining the maximum possible return are a priority. Thus, measuring efficiency in the public sector, and specifically in higher education, has become a challenge for accounting science. The objective of this work is a proposal to calculate efficiency indices with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models, introducing a previous step through the Analysis of Canonical Correlation (ACC). Using this technique, the aim is to improve discrimination capacity and overcome monodimensionality and lack of reliability in the representativeness of the chosen input and output variables. The study is applied in the public universities of Colombia and Spain during the years 2015 and 2016. The results obtained demonstrate the convenience of applying this preliminary step in the multivariate analysis. This reinforces the need to explore more rigorous methodologies in stages before and after the calculation of the efficiency indices. This practice increases confidence when using the indices to formulate policies and manage resources for the sector. Keywords: higher education; canonical correlation analysis; data envelopment analysis DEA; efficiency; university rankings. Nas ultimas decadas, as universidades iberoamericanas introduziram novos esquemas de avaliacao e prestacao de contas, inspirados no modelo da Nova Gestao Publica (NGP). Nesse contexto, a eficiencia na distribuicao de recursos publicos e a obtencao do maximo retorno possivel sao uma prioridade. Assim, medir a eficiencia no setor publico, e especificamente no ensino superior, tornou-se um desafio para a ciencia contabil. O objetivo deste trabalho e uma proposta para o calculo de indices de eficiencia com os modelos DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis), introduzindo uma etapa anterior da Analise de Correlacao Canonica (ACC). O objetivo dessa tecnica e melhorar a capacidade de discriminacao e superar a monodimensionalidade e a falta de confiabilidade no quao representativas sao as variaveis de entrada e saida escolhidas. O estudo e aplicado nas universidades publicas da Colombia e Espanha durante os anos de 2015 e 2016. Os resultados obtidos demonstram a conveniencia de aplicar esta etapa preliminar na analise multivariada. Isso reforca a necessidade de explorar metodologias mais rigorosas n