Relative Efficiency of Portuguese Public Universities: A Non-Parametric Approach

Abstract

In this work, we seek to assess the relative efÏciency of Portuguese public universities using the Data Envelopment Analysis method, specifically the model proposed by Banker et al. (1984). The inputs used for this purpose are the number of staff per student and the expenses per student, while the outputs are the number of graduates and the number of completed doctoral theses. It was concluded that, on average, Portuguese public universities could reduce their costs by 18.8% without compromising their performance. On the other hand, they could produce 44.6% more graduates and doctoral theses with the same resources. This resource saving could be used to improve the quality of teaching and research. Finally, the poor results in terms
of outputs reinforce the need to improve resource management, either through greater cooperation between universities or through a reform of academic curricula.