IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/oaefxx/doi10.1080-23322039.2014.918856.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating the performance of university course units using data envelopment analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Sami El-Mahgary
  • Petri Rönnholm
  • Hannu Hyyppä
  • Henrik Haggrén
  • Jenni Koponen

Abstract

The technique of data envelopment analysis (DEA) for measuring the relative efficiency has been widely used in the higher education sector. However, measuring the performance of a set of course units or modules that are part of a university curriculum has received little attention. In this article, DEA was used in a visual way to measure the performance of 12 course units that are part of a Photogrammetry curriculum taught at Aalto University. The results pinpointed the weakest performing units, i.e. units where the provided teaching efforts might not be adequately reflected in the students' marks in the unit. Based on the results, a single unit was considered to offer poor performance with respect to its teaching resources and was selected as a candidate for revision of its contents. Financial resources were not used as such; instead, the performance of students in previous pre-requisite units was used as the inputs. For clarity, a single output covering the overall student performance in the examined unit was used. The technique should be widely applicable assuming the grade point averages of the students who took the course unit are available along with the marks obtained in the evaluated units and their pre-requisites.

Suggested Citation

  • Sami El-Mahgary & Petri Rönnholm & Hannu Hyyppä & Henrik Haggrén & Jenni Koponen, 2014. "Evaluating the performance of university course units using data envelopment analysis," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 2(1), pages 1-20, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:oaefxx:doi:10.1080/23322039.2014.918856
    DOI: 10.1080/23322039.2014.918856
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/23322039.2014.918856
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/23322039.2014.918856?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. A. Bessent & W. Bessent & J. Elam & T. Clark, 1988. "Efficiency Frontier Determination by Constrained Facet Analysis," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 36(5), pages 785-796, October.
    2. 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.
    3. Barros, Carlos Pestana & Weber, William L., 2009. "Productivity growth and biased technological change in UK airports," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4), pages 642-653, July.
    4. Maria Portela & Emmanuel Thanassoulis, 2006. "Zero weights and non-zero slacks: Different solutions to the same problem," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 129-147, July.
    5. Kong, Wei-Hsin & Fu, Tsu-Tan, 2012. "Assessing the performance of business colleges in Taiwan using data envelopment analysis and student based value-added performance indicators," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 541-549.
    6. Boussofiane, A. & Dyson, R. G. & Thanassoulis, E., 1991. "Applied data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 1-15, May.
    7. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
    8. Rahim Mahmoudvand & Hossein Hassani, 2009. "Two new confidence intervals for the coefficient of variation in a normal distribution," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(4), pages 429-442.
    9. Tzeremes, Nickolaos & Halkos, George, 2010. "A DEA approach for measuring university departments’ efficiency," MPRA Paper 24029, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Luis R. Murillo‐Zamorano, 2004. "Economic Efficiency and Frontier Techniques," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(1), pages 33-77, February.
    11. 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.
    12. Barros, Carlos Pestana & Managi, Shunsuke & Matousek, Roman, 2009. "Productivity growth and biased technological change: Credit banks in Japan," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 924-936, December.
    13. El-Mahgary, Sami & Lahdelma, Risto, 1995. "Data envelopment analysis: Visualizing the results," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 700-710, June.
    14. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Guironnet, Jean-Pascal & Peypoch, Nicolas, 2018. "The geographical efficiency of education and research: The ranking of U.S. universities," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 44-55.
    3. Yang, Guo-liang & Fukuyama, Hirofumi & Song, Yao-yao, 2018. "Measuring the inefficiency of Chinese research universities based on a two-stage network DEA model," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 10-30.
    4. 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.
    5. Shamohammadi, Mehdi & Oh, Dong-hyun, 2019. "Measuring the efficiency changes of private universities of Korea: A two-stage network data envelopment analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    6. Örkcü, H. Hasan & Balıkçı, Cemal & Dogan, Mustafa Isa & Genç, Aşır, 2016. "An evaluation of the operational efficiency of turkish airports using data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index: 2009–2014 case," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 92-104.
    7. 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.
    8. Johnes, Jill & Yu, Li, 2008. "Measuring the research performance of Chinese higher education institutions using data envelopment analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 679-696, December.
    9. Xianmei Wang & Hanhui Hu, 2017. "Sustainability in Chinese Higher Educational Institutions’ Social Science Research: A Performance Interface toward Efficiency," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-18, October.
    10. Ray, Subhash C. & Jeon, Yongil, 2008. "Reputation and efficiency: A non-parametric assessment of America's top-rated MBA programs," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 189(1), pages 245-268, August.
    11. Liu, John S. & Lu, Louis Y.Y. & Lu, Wen-Min & Lin, Bruce J.Y., 2013. "A survey of DEA applications," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 893-902.
    12. BERBEGAL MIRABENT, Jasmina & SOLÉ PARELLADA, Francesc, 2012. "What Are We Measuring When Evaluating Universities’ Efficiency?," Regional and Sectoral Economic Studies, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 12(3).
    13. Ramón, Nuria & Ruiz, José L. & Sirvent, Inmaculada, 2010. "A multiplier bound approach to assess relative efficiency in DEA without slacks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 203(1), pages 261-269, May.
    14. Youchao Tan & Yang Zhang & Roohollah Khodaverdi, 2017. "Service performance evaluation using data envelopment analysis and balance scorecard approach: an application to automotive industry," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 248(1), pages 449-470, January.
    15. Fragoudaki, Alexandra & Giokas, Dimitrios, 2020. "Airport efficiency in the dawn of privatization: The case of Greece," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    16. Johnes, Jill, 2015. "Operational Research in education," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 243(3), pages 683-696.
    17. Tzeremes, Nickolaos & Halkos, George, 2010. "A DEA approach for measuring university departments’ efficiency," MPRA Paper 24029, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. C F Chen & K T Soo, 2009. "Some university students are more equal than others: Evidence from England," Working Papers 600480, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    19. Jie Wu & Ganggang Zhang & Qingyuan Zhu & Zhixiang Zhou, 2020. "An efficiency analysis of higher education institutions in China from a regional perspective considering the external environmental impact," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(1), pages 57-70, January.
    20. Marcel Clermont, 2016. "Effectiveness and efficiency of research in Germany over time: an analysis of German business schools between 2001 and 2009," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(3), pages 1347-1381, September.

    More about this item

    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:taf:oaefxx:doi:10.1080/23322039.2014.918856. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/OAEF20 .

    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.