Efficiency of Higher Technical Educational Institutions in India

Abstract

There has been a significant growth in the number of higher technical educational institutions (HTEIs) in India during the past six decades. To evaluate the competency of the Indian HTEIs, in terms of number of students produced, quality of students’ training etc., it is necessary to assess the economic efficiency of these institutions. This paper examines the technical efficiency (TE) of eight important HTEIs in India, namely, seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), by applying Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to balanced panel data during 2001-05. The study uses the input-oriented and output-oriented stochastic distance function models, as well as constant returns to scale DEA approach to measure the TE of the above institutions. The paper demonstrates that TE varies across the above HTEIs and highlights the need for strengthening the know-how (concerning higher technical education) of the Indian HTEIs, so that they can exploit the full potential of the existing educational inputs.