Abstract
Using the Data Envelopment Analysis techniques, the study examines the relative technical efficiency of 15 African public universities using 2000-2007 data set. The operating environment is adjusted to ascertain the extent to which it affects the relative efficiency scores of the universities. The universities post mean technical efficiency scores of: 0.886, 0.900 and 0.971 for the general model, teaching-only and research-only model, respectively. African public universities are hence more efficient in their research function than in their teaching function. The productivity gains of the universities are attributed more to embracement of technological advancements in both their teaching and research function rather than to improvements in the efficiency of their internal processes. Keywords: African public universities, Data envelopment analysis, Technical efficiency, Scale efficiency DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-3-20
Highlights
The overall purpose of any country’s higher education policy is to establish a higher education system with efficiently operating higher education institutions
Due to space constraints: (i) only results of the preferred and adjusted preferred models are presented, (ii) Abbreviations for African public universities that appear in brackets for each universities in Table 3 are adopted for subsequent tables & are used in the text and (iii) Table 3 contains both the reduced and augmented general model, teaching-only model and research-only model technical and scales efficiencies for the African public universities
South African universities were relatively more efficient than non-South Africa public universities probably because South Africa has: a high concentration of mature, relatively more resourced and highly competitive universities compared to other African countries
Summary
The overall purpose of any country’s higher education policy is to establish a higher education system with efficiently operating higher education institutions. Relative technical efficiencies enable university managers to determine the extent to which resources/inputs would be saved and which efficient peers could be emulated by inefficient peers to improve their efficiency. Efficiency of universities increases value for money and enhances the production of high-level manpower and scientific knowledge required for global competitiveness. Cross-university and-country technical efficiency studies facilitate cross-fertilization of the best practices in the teaching and research functions of African public universities (Jill, Maria & Emmanuel, 2017). Technical inefficiency could result in increased production costs which will make African public universities less efficient and competitive. The objective of the study is to examine the technical efficiency of Africa public universities using 2000-2007 data set.
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