Productive Efficiency Analysis: A Comparison of Departments across the Faculties of the University of Atacama
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15359/ree.27-2.15872Keywords:
Data envelopment analysis, optimization model, university education, University of AtacamaAbstract
Introduction. Currently, Public Universities are undergoing important educational transformations in a context where the State is demanding criteria of rationality and economic efficiency. Objective. This study aims to determine the technical efficiency for a set of 14 departments in the faculties of Engineering, Technology, and Humanities that comprise the University of Atacama for the 2020 academic year. Methodology. The proposed methodology is an Input-Oriented DEA-CCR Data Envelopment Analysis with constant returns to scale and a BCC model with variable returns to scale. This type of analysis is a contribution of mathematical programming that transforms numerous measured inputs and outputs into a single sum of efficient productivity (Coll Serrano & Blasco Blasco, 2006). The input variables selected include the annual budget, operating expenses, number of enrolled students, number of academics, years of experience, average teaching load, and supervised theses. The output variables are indexed scientific publications and the Annual Operating Plan. Results. The results showed that departments 2 and 3 of the Technological Faculty must reduce their inputs by 77,8% and 85.1%, respectively, to be on the efficient frontier. In the Faculty of Engineering, there was a better performance in terms of the efficient use of resources. Conclusions. It can be concluded that analyzing interdepartmental productive efficiency is important and allows for improving the decision-making of university authorities.
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