IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v42y2014icp147-164.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring the efficiency of teaching activities in Italian universities: An information theoretic approach

Author

Listed:
  • Laureti, Tiziana
  • Secondi, Luca
  • Biggeri, Luigi

Abstract

The measurement of teaching efficiency of Italian universities has become a topic of much interest and debate in recent years. The aim of this study is to fully explore the potential of panel data in the analysis of teaching efficiency both by modelling human capital formation in the university as a series of sub-processes and by using various models to account for observed and unobserved factors which generate heterogeneity. The new approach for estimating a stochastic frontier model based on the Generalized Maximum Entropy method provides further insights into the measurement of university teaching performance. The evolution of efficiency throughout the entire study period was also analyzed.

Suggested Citation

  • Laureti, Tiziana & Secondi, Luca & Biggeri, Luigi, 2014. "Measuring the efficiency of teaching activities in Italian universities: An information theoretic approach," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 147-164.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:42:y:2014:i:c:p:147-164
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2014.07.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775714000648
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econedurev.2014.07.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johnes, Geraint & Johnes, Jill, 1993. "Measuring the Research Performance of UK Economics Departments: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 45(2), pages 332-347, April.
    2. Johnes, Jill, 1996. "Performance assessment in higher education in Britain," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 18-33, February.
    3. Randall Campbell & Kevin Rogers & Jon Rezek, 2008. "Efficient frontier estimation: a maximum entropy approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 213-221, December.
    4. Antreas Athanassopoulos & Estelle Shale, 1997. "Assessing the Comparative Efficiency of Higher Education Institutions in the UK by the Means of Data Envelopment Analysis," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(2), pages 117-134.
    5. Malcolm Abbott & Chris Doucouliagos, 2009. "Competition and efficiency: overseas students and technical efficiency in Australian and New Zealand universities," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 31-57.
    6. Fried, Harold O. & Lovell, C. A. Knox & Schmidt, Shelton S. (ed.), 2008. "The Measurement of Productive Efficiency and Productivity Growth," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195183528, Decembrie.
    7. Efthymios G. Tsionas, 2002. "Stochastic frontier models with random coefficients," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(2), pages 127-147.
    8. Avkiran, Necmi K., 2001. "Investigating technical and scale efficiencies of Australian Universities through data envelopment analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 57-80, March.
    9. Guido Ferrari & Tiziana Laureti, 2005. "Evaluating technical efficiency of human capital formation in the Italian university: Evidence from Florence," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 14(2), pages 243-270, November.
    10. Di Pietro, Giorgio & Cutillo, Andrea, 2008. "Degree flexibility and university drop-out: The Italian experience," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 546-555, October.
    11. Tommaso Agasisti & Carlo Salerno, 2007. "Assessing the Cost Efficiency of Italian Universities," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 455-471.
    12. Zoghbi, Ana Carolina & Rocha, Fabiana & Mattos, Enlinson, 2013. "Education production efficiency: Evidence from Brazilian universities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 94-103.
    13. Chambers,Robert G., 1988. "Applied Production Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521314275.
    14. William Greene, 2004. "Distinguishing between heterogeneity and inefficiency: stochastic frontier analysis of the World Health Organization's panel data on national health care systems," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(10), pages 959-980, October.
    15. repec:kap:iaecre:v:14:y:2008:i:1:p:76-89 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Golan, Amos & Judge, George G. & Miller, Douglas, 1996. "Maximum Entropy Econometrics," Staff General Research Papers Archive 1488, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    17. Lakshmi Balasubramanyan & Spiro Stefanou & Jeffrey Stokes, 2012. "An entropy approach to size and variance heterogeneity in U.S. commercial banks," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 36(3), pages 728-749, July.
    18. Berger, Allen N. & Mester, Loretta J., 1997. "Inside the black box: What explains differences in the efficiencies of financial institutions?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(7), pages 895-947, July.
    19. Tommaso Agasisti & Geraint Johnes, 2010. "Heterogeneity and the evaluation of efficiency: the case of Italian universities," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(11), pages 1365-1375.
    20. Schmidt, Peter & Sickles, Robin C, 1984. "Production Frontiers and Panel Data," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 2(4), pages 367-374, October.
    21. F. Belloc & A. Maruotti & L. Petrella, 2011. "How individual characteristics affect university students drop-out: a semiparametric mixed-effects model for an Italian case study," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(10), pages 2225-2239.
    22. Johnes, Jill, 2006. "Data envelopment analysis and its application to the measurement of efficiency in higher education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 273-288, June.
    23. Jesus Felipe, 1998. "On the interpretation of coefficients in multiplicative-logarithmic functions: a reconsideration," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(6), pages 397-400.
    24. L. Kurkalova & A. Carriquiry, 2003. "Input- and Output-Oriented Technical Efficiency of Ukrainian Collective Farms, 1989–1992: Bayesian Analysis of a Stochastic Production Frontier Model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 191-211, September.
    25. Pedro Macedo & Elvira Silva, 2010. "A stochastic production frontier model with a translog specification using the generalized maximum entropy estimator," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 30(1), pages 587-596.
    26. Amos Golan & Jeffrey M. Perloff & Edward Z. Shen, 2001. "Estimating A Demand System With Nonnegativity Constraints: Mexican Meat Demand," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 541-550, August.
    27. Tiziana Laureti, 2008. "Modelling Exogenous Variables in Human Capital Formation through a Heteroscedastic Stochastic Frontier," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 14(1), pages 76-89, February.
    28. Tommaso Agasisti & Antonio Dal Bianco, 2006. "Data envelopment analysis to the Italian university system: theoretical issues and policy implications," International Journal of Business Performance Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 8(4), pages 344-367.
    29. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    30. Greene, William, 2005. "Reconsidering heterogeneity in panel data estimators of the stochastic frontier model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 269-303, June.
    31. Shinji Yane & Sanford Berg, 2013. "Sensitivity analysis of efficiency rankings to distributional assumptions: applications to Japanese water utilities," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(17), pages 2337-2348, June.
    32. Peter C. Smith & Andrew Street, 2005. "Measuring the efficiency of public services: the limits of analysis," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 168(2), pages 401-417, March.
    33. Philip Andrew Stevens, 2005. "A Stochastic Frontier Analysis of English and Welsh Universities," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(4), pages 355-374.
    34. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:30:y:2010:i:1:p:587-596 is not listed on IDEAS
    35. Gerhard Kempkes & Carsten Pohl, 2010. "The efficiency of German universities-some evidence from nonparametric and parametric methods," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(16), pages 2063-2079.
    36. Izadi, Hooshang & Johnes, Geraint & Oskrochi, Reza & Crouchley, Robert, 2002. "Stochastic frontier estimation of a CES cost function: the case of higher education in Britain," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 63-71, February.
    37. Willam Greene, 2005. "Fixed and Random Effects in Stochastic Frontier Models," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 7-32, January.
    38. Jondrow, James & Knox Lovell, C. A. & Materov, Ivan S. & Schmidt, Peter, 1982. "On the estimation of technical inefficiency in the stochastic frontier production function model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 233-238, August.
    39. Johnes, Geraint & Johnes, Jill, 2009. "Higher education institutions' costs and efficiency: Taking the decomposition a further step," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 107-113, February.
    40. Miika Linna, 1998. "Measuring hospital cost efficiency with panel data models," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(5), pages 415-427, August.
    41. Abbott, M. & Doucouliagos, C., 2003. "The efficiency of Australian universities: a data envelopment analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 89-97, February.
    42. Geraint Johnes & Astrid Schwarzenberger, 2011. "Differences in cost structure and the evaluation of efficiency: the case of German universities," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(5), pages 487-499, January.
    43. Pitt, Mark M. & Lee, Lung-Fei, 1981. "The measurement and sources of technical inefficiency in the Indonesian weaving industry," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 43-64, August.
    44. Golan, Amos, 2008. "Information and Entropy Econometrics — A Review and Synthesis," Foundations and Trends(R) in Econometrics, now publishers, vol. 2(1–2), pages 1-145, February.
    45. Johnes, Geraint, 1997. "Costs and Industrial Structure in Contemporary British Higher Education," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(442), pages 727-737, May.
    46. Breu, Theodore M. & Raab, Raymond L., 1994. "Efficiency and perceived quality of the nation's "top 25" National Universities and National Liberal Arts Colleges: An application of data envelopment analysis to higher education," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 33-45.
    47. Alfons Lansink & Elvira Silva & Spiro Stefanou, 2001. "Inter-Firm and Intra-Firm Efficiency Measures," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 185-199, May.
    48. Johnes, Jill, 2006. "Measuring teaching efficiency in higher education: An application of data envelopment analysis to economics graduates from UK Universities 1993," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(1), pages 443-456, October.
    49. Dino Rizzi, 2001. "L'efficienza dei dipartimenti dell'Universit? Ca' Foscari di Venezia via DEA e DFA," ECONOMIA PUBBLICA, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2001(3).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yaisawarng, Suthathip & Ng, Ying Chu, 2014. "The impact of higher education reform on research performance of Chinese universities," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 94-105.
    2. Guarini, Giulio & Laureti, Tiziana & Garofalo, Giuseppe, 2020. "Socio-institutional determinants of educational resource efficiency according to the capability approach: An endogenous stochastic frontier analysis," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    3. Gralka, Sabine, 2018. "Stochastic frontier analysis in higher education: A systematic review," CEPIE Working Papers 05/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    4. Biao Chen & Yan Chen & Xianghua Qu & Wanyu Huang & Panyu Wang, 2023. "Do Financial Investment, Disciplinary Differences, and Level of Development Impact on the Efficiency of Resource Allocation in Higher Education: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-23, April.
    5. 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.
    6. Guarini, Giulio & Laureti, Tiziana & Garofalo, Giuseppe, 2018. "Territorial and individual educational inequality: A Capability Approach analysis for Italy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 247-262.
    7. Martin Flegl & Robert Hlavatý, 2022. "Understanding transitions in professors’ evaluation: the application of Markov chain," OPSEARCH, Springer;Operational Research Society of India, vol. 59(1), pages 304-323, March.
    8. Alice Bertoletti & Geraint Johnes, 2021. "Efficiency in university-industry collaboration: an analysis of UK higher education institutions," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(9), pages 7679-7714, September.
    9. A.P. Gorina, 2016. "Issues and Prospectives of the Educational Service Market Modernization," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3B), pages 227-238.
    10. Vanesa D’Elia & Gustavo Ferro, 2019. "Empirical Efficiency Measurement in Higher Education: An Overview," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 708, Universidad del CEMA.
    11. M.G. Leontev & N.G. Bondarenko & T.A. Shebzuhova & S.S. Butko & L.I. Egorova, 2018. "Improving the Efficiency of University Management: Teacher’s Performance Monitoring as a Tool to Promote the Quality of Education," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 527-540.
    12. Calogero Guccio & Marco Ferdinando Martorana & Isidoro Mazza, 2016. "Efficiency assessment and convergence in teaching and research in Italian public universities," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 107(3), pages 1063-1094, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    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. Gralka, Sabine, 2018. "Stochastic frontier analysis in higher education: A systematic review," CEPIE Working Papers 05/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    3. Agasisti, Tommaso & Barra, Cristian & Zotti, Roberto, 2016. "Evaluating the efficiency of Italian public universities (2008–2011) in presence of (unobserved) heterogeneity," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 47-58.
    4. Vanesa D’Elia & Gustavo Ferro, 2019. "Empirical Efficiency Measurement in Higher Education: An Overview," CEMA Working Papers: Serie Documentos de Trabajo. 708, Universidad del CEMA.
    5. Mehdi Rhaiem, 2017. "Measurement and determinants of academic research efficiency: a systematic review of the evidence," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(2), pages 581-615, February.
    6. Yaisawarng, Suthathip & Ng, Ying Chu, 2014. "The impact of higher education reform on research performance of Chinese universities," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 94-105.
    7. Barra, Cristian & Lagravinese, Raffaele & Zotti, Roberto, 2018. "Does econometric methodology matter to rank universities? An analysis of Italian higher education system," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 104-120.
    8. Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo, 2009. "An analysis of cost efficiency in Swiss multi-utilities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 306-315, March.
    9. Orosco Gavilán, Juan Carlos & Lopes Moreira Da Veiga, María Helena & Wiper, Michael Peter, 2023. "Measuring efficiency of Peruvian universities: a stochastic frontier analysis," DES - Working Papers. Statistics and Econometrics. WS 36250, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Estadística.
    10. Bergantino, Angela Stefania & Capozza, Claudia & Porcelli, Francesco, 2015. "Hotelling competition and teaching efficiency of Italian university faculties. A semi-parametric analysis," MPRA Paper 62927, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Barra, Cristian & Lagravinese, Raffaele & Zotti, Roberto, 2015. "Explaining (in)efficiency in higher education: a comparison of parametric and non-parametric analyses to rank universities," MPRA Paper 67119, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Sabine Gralka, 2018. "Persistent inefficiency in the higher education sector: evidence from Germany," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 373-392, July.
    13. Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz & Aleksandra Parteka, 2011. "Efficiency of European public higher education institutions: a two-stage multicountry approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(3), pages 887-917, December.
    14. Tzeremes, Nickolaos & Halkos, George, 2010. "A DEA approach for measuring university departments’ efficiency," MPRA Paper 24029, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. T Agasisti & G Johnes, 2009. "Cost Structure, Efficiency and Heterogeneity in US Higher Education: An Empirical Analysis," Working Papers 599308, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    16. Mehdi Farsi & Massimo Filippini & William Greene, 2006. "Application Of Panel Data Models In Benchmarking Analysis Of The Electricity Distribution Sector," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(3), pages 271-290, September.
    17. Lee, Boon L. & Worthington, Andrew C., 2016. "A network DEA quantity and quality-orientated production model: An application to Australian university research services," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 26-33.
    18. repec:lan:wpaper:4358 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Johnes, Jill, 2015. "Operational Research in education," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 243(3), pages 683-696.
    20. Sabine Gralka & Klaus Wohlrabe & Lutz Bornmann, 2018. "How to Measure Research Efficiency in Higher Education? Research Grants vs. Publication Output," CESifo Working Paper Series 7055, CESifo.
    21. repec:lan:wpaper:4487 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Jill Johnes, 2006. "Measuring Efficiency: A Comparison of Multilevel Modelling and Data Envelopment Analysis in the Context of Higher Education," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 75-104, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    University teaching efficiency; Heterogeneity; Stochastic frontier approach; Generalized Maximum Entropy method; Panel data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:42:y:2014:i:c:p:147-164. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/econedurev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.