Performance Of Higher Education Systems Research Articles

An alternative assessment approach to national higher education system evaluation

While the assessment of higher education systems is informative to both policy makers and individuals, it is subjective and performed according to experts’ judgment. The present study proposes a relatively objective approach, hierarchical data envelopment analysis (H-DEA), to rank higher education systems. Unlike the subjective approach, H-DEA utilizes endogenous weight determination, allowing assessors to identify the relative importance of each attribute and subattribute. Utilizing the U21 Ranking of National Higher Education System 2020 data, our analysis indicates that the output attribute is a crucial factor influencing the overall performance of higher education systems, even considering countries’ stage of development and culture. The computed weights of the H-DEA framework show various attributes’ different contributions by group. Resources allocated to the higher education system are important for developing countries, while a high degree of internationalization and a strong link between academia and industry matter for advanced countries. Surprisingly, Asian and Western cultures experience similar performance in their higher education systems, reflecting the Asian higher education system’s development toward the Western style. The performance of countries with non-Asian–non-Western cultures, as expected, lags behind, and putting more resources into these countries’ higher education system is a way to enhance the overall performance.

Disruptions in higher education: Mitigating issues of access and success in the COVID-19 pandemic

Disruptions create both new opportunities and challenges in higher education. In settled times, education systems plod along with an assumed and uncritical acceptance of normalcy of the status-quo. When the status quo is disrupted, suddenly the patched-up cracks reveal the depth and magnitude of the simmering problems of the sector in graphic ways. Access and success are arguably the two most poignant indicators of the performance of higher education systems. In post-colonial societies such as South Africa, access is used to estimate progress in broadening participation in higher education, particularly to young people from previously disadvantaged communities. Access has two broad meanings: increased enrolments and enhanced epistemological impact. Success, on the other hand is measured variously but mainly through graduation and progression rates across different socio-economic higher education students groups and also on the quality of their performances. In this article we provide a theoretical discussion of the notions of disruptions and their impact in higher education; examine the questions of access and success in higher education; and conclude that the chasm lying between access by participation and access by success requires substantial transformation of a knowledge system that is alien to the cultural context of the country; rebalancing and recalibrating the broader ideological environment that privileges liberalism while paying token attention to social justice and inclusion beyond mere symbolism; and a persistent refocusing on emancipatory pedagogies, designed to liberate rather than subjugate graduates into pigeon holed choices in the labour market which are designed to serve the needs of owners of capital as the primary motive of employment. We conclude by identifying critical factors that appear to lead to a failure by universities to bridge the gap between access by participation and access by success or epistemological access. Most of these tend to be structurally embedded in the fabric of higher education institutions and the sector and include, a persistent coloniality of the sector, disjuncture between the intended ideological framework guiding national development and the operating economic models and institutional inertia to move beyond the canonical bases of higher education based on western epistemes.

A Multi-Attribute Assisted Performance Deduction and Related Value in Triple Helix Innovation Networks

Typically, Triple Helix relations, between, Higher Education Institutions, Governments and Industry(s) are inferred from patents and research output. Systemic determination of the relationship is because of observations over a period. It is, however, possible to analyze this relation from a system present from the word-go. This then allows for the interaction to be analyzed on the basis of performance and logically gains for participation by all the agents. Several models have been proposed to deduce the Triple Helix Relation and these hold. This paper has however introduced a new dimension to the analysis, by viewing participation from an investor point of view with decision making being of a complex and deductive nature based on the performance of higher education systems or institutions. The TOPSIS supported performance deductions helps synthesis decision solutions that facilitates value determination of performance and its resultant impact on investment gains. Possible future implications for this, are also provided

Fiscal decentralization and the performance of higher education institutions: the case of Europe

This paper empirically evaluates the impact of fiscal decentralization on the performance of higher education systems. To test this relationship, we build up a panel dataset composed of European countries. Country-level performance is measured by an indicator using data from the Shanghai ranking. Using a dynamic panel approach, we find that a higher share of government spending coming from decentralized levels of governments leads to an improvement of the performance of research-intensive higher education institutions. We argue that a more decentralized higher education system increases the ability to attract and retain top scholars.

The impact of Ireland’s new higher education system performance framework on institutional planning towards the related policy objectives

This research examines the implementation of Ireland’s higher education system performance framework (HESPF), through its first 3-year cycle 2014–2017, in a sample of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). In particular, it examines the extent to which the HESPF aids or inhibits HEI planning towards the related national policy objectives. Integral to the HESPF are performance agreements (PAs) that specify how HEI strategies contribute to national priorities. An exploratory case study design frame is used to address the research question, with cases drawn from small, medium-sized and large institutions. A concurrent triangulation design strategy is deployed with qualitative data drawn from 24 key informants and PAs, and quantitative data elicited from 92 questionnaires. Oliver’s strategic response framework was adapted for deployment in the study. The design of the PAs associated with the HESPF is generally consistent with the core building blocks of PAs internationally. The HESPF is generally considered a good concept that has resulted in constructive relationship building between the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and HEIs.' Strategic planning capacity building, self-reflection and institutional learning are regarded as strengths of the process. However, it appears that the levers being used by the HEA to bring about performance improvements are having very little behavioural influence. Reputation and a desire to respond to regional and national needs along with global expectations appear to be driving performance. The process is not operating at a sufficiently strategic level and lack of enabling/incentive funding is regarded as a major weakness.

Analysing the determinants of higher education systems’ performance–a structural equation modelling approach

Abstract This article deals with the relationships between the performance of higher education systems (HESs) and their potential determinants. The research employed data relating to twenty-nine European countries, within a time span of 15 years. The empirical work is based on a conceptual framework that has been tested through Structural Equation Modelling. The data was selected from a novel data set that we have built by gathering HES indicators from the major international databases. Among the more noteworthy results, we found no statistically significant correlation between graduation rates and research performance. Additionally, we found a moderate effect of public expenditure on HES performance. The article addresses the issue of the lack of a comprehensive set of systemic indicators for HES performance, providing a holistic picture of the relationship between HES determinants and performance, which, in turn, could help to provide an adequate evaluation of the policies in the field of higher education.

Visibility in international rankings. Strategies for enhancing the competitiveness of Spanish universities

The world-wide popularity of university rankings has spurred the debate about the quality and performance of higher education systems and has had a considerable impact on global society in light of the internationalisation of higher education. While useful for policy makers, such rankings also furnish information on an institution’s “prestige”, which may in turn contribute to more effective resource capture (students, funding, projects). Certain university profiles and missions may prevent many universities from climbing to higher positions, however. One important question in this regard is: how many of a country’s universities can stand at the top of international rankings? The present article attempts to answer this question on the grounds of a study of the Spanish higher education system, and more specifically of an institutional alliance consisting of four high quality universities. A series of research activity indicators drawn from the IUNE Observatory are used to compare this alliance to leading Spanish and international universities and explore whether their visibility and consequently their position in international rankings would be enhanced if they were able to appear under a joint identity. This prospective study also addresses a series of strategies that the Spanish higher education system might implement to successfully rise to the challenges posed by future scenarios.

Adjusted sum of institutional scores as an indicator of the presence of university systems in the ARWU ranking

In this article I introduce a new indicator that measures the presence of a higher education system in the Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). First, the benefits of introducing such a measure and the drawbacks associated with the possible choices of the indicator are discussed. To analyze the drawbacks, the sample of countries with presence in ARWU is split into two groups of small and large world's GDP share. A raw indicator based upon the sum of the scores of all the universities from a country divided by its world's GDP share shows a noticeable bias in favor of small countries, so a one-way between-groups analysis of variance is conducted to help in canceling the bias. That leads to the introduction of a new aggregate indicator that can be computed in a very simple fashion. A discussion of the performance of higher education systems using this new indicator closes the paper.