An Application of the Data Envelopment Analysis Method to Evaluate the Performance of Academic Departments within A Higher Education Institution

Abstract:This paper aims to evaluate the efficiency or the productivity of academic departments within a university using Data Envelopment Analysis. As an illustrative example, we investigate the performance of 57 departments of National Economics University (NEU) for three years, from 2013 to 2015. The data set consists of one input variable, which is the number of academic staff, and three output variables in which the number of research hours is considered as research output and the number of graduates and teaching load are defined as teaching outputs. Particularly, the output-oriented CCR, BCC, and SBM model under both the CRS and VRS assumptions are applied in order to determine accurate degrees of efficiency of individual departments and directions for performance improvement for less efficient ones. The output-oriented radial Malmquist DEA model is also employed to make a comparative analysis of the productivity change of the departments over the period. The results reveal some clear policy-making implications for departments to adjust their development plan in an appropriate way.