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Measuring relative efficiency of secondary education in selected EU and OECD countries: the case of Slovenia and Croatia

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  • Aristovnik, Aleksander
  • Obadić, Alka

Abstract

This article continues on a number of previous studies by other scientists in investigating secondary education efficiency by applying a non-parametric methodology. In this respect, the purpose of the article is to review some previous studies on measuring the efficiency of public (secondary) education sector as well as some conceptual and methodological issues of a non-parametric approach. Most importantly, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique is presented and then applied to a wide range of EU and OECD countries, including Slovenia and Croatia, to evaluate the technical efficiency of secondary education. The empirical results show that technical efficiency in secondary education varies significantly across the great majority of EU and OECD countries. Both Slovenia and Croatia show a relatively high level of technical inefficiency in their secondary education as they respectively only rank in the third and fourth quartiles among selected countries. Therefore, rationalising public secondary education spending is strongly recommended with possible redirecting of some excessive resources to the tertiary education sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Aristovnik, Aleksander & Obadić, Alka, 2014. "Measuring relative efficiency of secondary education in selected EU and OECD countries: the case of Slovenia and Croatia," MPRA Paper 63936, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:63936
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    Cited by:

    1. Kristof De Witte & Laura López-Torres, 2017. "Efficiency in education: a review of literature and a way forward," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 339-363, April.
    2. Cordero, Jose M. & Polo, Cristina & Santín, Daniel & Simancas, Rosa, 2018. "Efficiency measurement and cross-country differences among schools: A robust conditional nonparametric analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 45-60.
    3. Martina Ostojić & Mirna Leko Šimić, 2021. "Students’ Perceptions of Public vs. Private Higher Education Institution Brand Value in Croatia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-11, August.
    4. Gabor Rappai, 2016. "Europe En Route to 2020: A New Way of Evaluating the Overall Fulfillment of the Europe 2020 Strategic Goals," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 77-93, October.
    5. José Manuel Cordero & Daniel Santín & Rosa Simancas, 2017. "Assessing European primary school performance through a conditional nonparametric model," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(4), pages 364-376, April.
    6. Cui, Yuan & Ren, Xian-tong & He, Xi-jie & Yang, Guo-liang, 2023. "Is human and financial investment in Chinese universities effective?," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Juan Aparicio & Sergio Perelman & Daniel Santín, 2022. "Comparing the evolution of productivity and performance gaps in education systems through DEA: an application to Latin American countries," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 1443-1477, April.
    8. Aleksander Aristovnik & Alka Obadic, 2015. "The impact and efficiency of public administration excellence on fostering SMEs in EU countries," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 17(39), pages 761-761, May.
    9. Susana Faria & Maria Conceição Portela, 2016. "Student Performance in Mathematics using PISA-2009 data for Portugal," Working Papers de Gestão (Management Working Papers) 01, Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
    10. Stylianos Gr. Margaritis & Constantinos P. Tsamadias & Elias E. Argyropoulos, 2022. "Investigating the Relative Efficiency and Productivity Change of Upper Secondary Schools: the Case of Schools in the Region of Central Greece," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(1), pages 128-160, March.
    11. Ahec Šonje, Amina & Deskar-Škrbić, Milan & Šonje, Velimir, 2018. "Efficiency of public expenditure on education: comparing Croatia with other NMS," MPRA Paper 85152, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Feb 2018.
    12. Lela Tijanic & Alka Obadic, 2015. "Regional Competitiveness Of The European Union," Economy of eastern Croatia yesterday, today, tommorow, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Economics, Croatia, vol. 4, pages 768-777.
    13. Darya Dancaková & Jozef Glova & Alena Andrejovská, 2021. "The Robust Efficiency Estimation in Lower Secondary Education: Cross-Country Evidence," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(24), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Ozana Nadoveza Jelic & Margareta Gardijan Kedzo, 2018. "Efficiency vs effectiveness: an analysis of tertiary education across Europe," Public Sector Economics, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 42(4), pages 381-414.
    15. Cordero, Jose Manuel & Polo, Cristina & Simancas, Rosa, 2022. "Assessing the efficiency of secondary schools: Evidence from OECD countries participating in PISA 2015," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    16. Facundo Quiroga-Martínez & Esteban Fernández-Vázquez & Catalina Lucía Alberto, 2018. "Efficiency in public higher education on Argentina 2004–2013: institutional decisions and university-specific effects," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 27(1), pages 1-18, December.
    17. Aparicio, Juan & Cordero, Jose M. & Gonzalez, Martin & Lopez-Espin, Jose J., 2018. "Using non-radial DEA to assess school efficiency in a cross-country perspective: An empirical analysis of OECD countries," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 9-20.
    18. Víctor Giménez & Claudio Thieme & Diego Prior & Emili Tortosa-Ausina, 2017. "An international comparison of educational systems: a temporal analysis in presence of bad outputs," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 83-101, February.
    19. Huan Xu & Fangtao Liu, 2017. "Measuring the Efficiency of Education and Technology via DEA approach: Implications on National Development," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-13, November.
    20. Roman, Monica & Gotiu (Lucaciu), Liliana, 2017. "Non-parametric methods applied in the efficiency analysis of European structural funding in Romania," MPRA Paper 80548, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 08 May 2017.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    secondary education; technical efficiency; DEA; Slovenia; Croatia; EU; OECD;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • C61 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Optimization Techniques; Programming Models; Dynamic Analysis
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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