Multi-product total cost functions for higher education: The case of Chinese research universities

This paper empirically investigates the economies of scale and economies of scope for the Chinese research universities by employing the flexible fixed cost quadratic (FFCQ) function. The empirical results show that both economies of scale and economies of scope exist in the Chinese higher education system and support the commonly belief that universities as multi-product organizations.     

Cost economies in the provision of higher education for international students: Australian evidence

In the past few decades, the additional revenues available via higher education exports (through both relatively higher prices and increased enrolments) have attracted the attention of providers in many developed countries, not least in Anglophone countries like the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia. However, while the revenue case is strong, the institutional cost structures underlying the provision of higher education services for international students remain relatively unknown at the sector level. Accordingly, we offer a comprehensive analysis of the cost economies underlying higher education provision for international students using a sample of 37 Australian public universities over the period from 2003 to 2012. The findings suggest that it is appealing to enrol additional overseas students given their lower average and marginal costs and the significant economies of scale prevailing in higher education generally. Further, while we find evidence of economies of scope for overseas students only in smaller institutions, there is no evidence of diseconomies of scope, implying the current number of overseas students and their joint production with domestic students at the least does not lead to unnecessarily higher overall costs.     

英国职业教育中的兼职教师

兼职教师在英国继续教育学院已经是一个具有相当规模的、不容忽视的群体。本文介绍了当前英国继续教育学院兼职教师的现状,从兼职教师的规模、年龄结构、岗位类型、待遇收入、培训与持证情况等方面出发,对继续教育学院兼职教师特点进行了系统的分析,研究了大量使用兼职教师的原因以及兼职教师聘用与管理中存在的问题和对策。     

Are Public Master’s Institutions Cost Efficient? A Stochastic Frontier and Spatial Analysis

The current study examines costs, measured by educational and general (E&G) spending, and cost efficiency at 252 public master’s institutions in the United States over a nine-year (2004–2012) period. We use a multi-product quadratic cost function and results from a random-effects model with a first-order autoregressive (AR1) disturbance term to calculate economies of scale with regard to undergraduate enrollment, graduate enrollment, and research. We also employ a slightly modified version of Kumbhakar et al. (J Prod Anal 41(2):321–337, 2014) multi-step approach, involving the use of stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) and taking into account spatial interdependency, to decompose cost efficiency into long-term stable (persistent) and short-term (residual) efficiency. The key results of this study include evidence that: (1) regional clustering of costs exists; (2) there are economies of scale in undergraduate education and diseconomies of scale in graduate education; (3) relatively few institutions are cost inefficient; and (4) cost inefficiency tends to be long-term and persistent rather than short-term and residual. This research also identifies public master’s institutions that are the most cost efficient. Our inquiry has implications for future research as it points towards specific institutions, which may be engaged in effective practices to keep costs low, for possible follow-up case studies. Going forward, the techniques used in this study could be applied to examine economies of scale and scope as well as cost efficiency among other types of higher education institutions, such as public or private research universities, baccalaureate institutions, and community colleges.     

Economies of scale and scope in Australian higher education

This paper estimates economies of scale and scope for 36 Australian universities using a multiple-input, multiple-output cost function over the period 1998–2006. The three inputs included in the analysis are full-time equivalent academic and non-academic staff and physical capital. The five outputs are undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD completions, national competitive and industry grants, and publications. The findings indicate that ray economies of scale hold up to about 120% of current mean output though product-specific economies of scale hold only for undergraduate teaching. Global economies of scope prevail in the sector, increasing with the level of mean output, while product-specific economies of scope arise for all outputs except publications. A cost efficiency index constructed using the sector benchmark indicates that the universities of Ballarat, Southern Cross and Flinders have a high level of cost efficiency, while New South Wales, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and James Cook are cost inefficient.     

Explaining Estimated Economies of Scale and Scope in Higher Education: A Meta-Regression Analysis

Numerous studies have investigated economies of scale and scope in higher education as a means of providing public and private providers of college and university teaching, research and other services and their stakeholders with knowledge of the cost structures that underpin provision in this economically and socially important sector. However, debate continues on the precise nature of the economies of scale and scope in higher education given the mixed findings, largely because of significant institutional and other differences across studies. To address this, we employ meta-regression analysis to explore not only the overall level of scale and scope economies across more than 40 international studies conducted in Australia, the US, the UK, Italy, China, and elsewhere since the early 1980s, but also those factors that potentially affect their presence in the higher education sector. Our findings suggest that functional form and allowances for managerial efficiency have a significant impact on the estimated scale economies. In contrast, for scope economies, the key discriminating factors appear to be when the analysis was conducted, the diversity of the sample, and the national level of economic development.     

高校素质教育浅谈

21世纪的到来,为高等教育带来了新的机遇和挑战,对高校全面推进素质教育提出了更新、更高的要求.高校实施素质教育,一要加强人文科学教育,二要构建新型的评价体系,三要加强教师师德、队伍建设.唯有如此,高校才能为国家与社会输送高素质的人才,以适应经济全球化,提高综合国力的竞争力.     

U.S. methods for costing in higher education: taking the technology abroad

Costing, the process by which an organization's costs are determined, is one of the most useful policy-making and management tools available to higher education leaders throughout the world. Yet despite the ongoing demand for analytically derived cost information in higher education, the use of costing for policy and management purposes is only now gaining momentum. This article reports the results of the first known application of U.S. costing methods to an institution of higher learning in Latin America - the Universidad de Monterrey (UDEM), a prestigious independent university in Mexico. This study elucidates differences in direct and indirect instructional costs among the UDEM's seven academic colleges and discerns reasons for variations in these costs. Based on the correlation and regression analyses performed, the student-faculty ratio, the average class size, and the total number of courses (a measure of curricular breadth) were among the major factors creating differences in instructional costs among the seven colleges. An important implication of this study is that potential economies are available if faculty productivity levels are increased. Thus, UDEM could conceivably double the existing average class sizes and student-faculty ratios in several of its colleges without any deterioration in the quality of instruction.     

高职院校服务质量实证研究——以我国27个省、市、自治区高职院校应届毕业生抽样调查为例

根据用户满意度理论和利益相关者理论,编制"学生评价高等职业教育服务质量评量表",并对我国27个省、市、自治区28所高职院校应届毕业生进行在线抽样调查。结果显示,学生的总体满意度较低,为74分,期望值为81.4分,满意度与期望值的差距值为7.36分;学生对"关心学生"、"入学与学籍管理"、"收费"、"校园安全"评价较高;对"学校生活环境"、"实践教学"与"就业服务"评价较低。研究发现,学生评价结果与人才培养水平评估结果、与学校是否是示范性学校关系不密切,与教师、学校管理人员的评价也不同;加强对学生的学习与实践指导、密切校企合作、提高选修课程比例和创造更舒适的校园生活环境是改进高职院校服务质量的优先事项。     

The internal efficiency in higher education: An analysis based on economies of scope

Among the studies of the internal efficiency in higher education, most have focused on the scale of university (the economies of scale), but little on internal operating efficiency in higher education, especially on the combined efficiency of outputs (the economies of scope). There are few theoretical discussions or experimental research on whether teaching resources are complementary with research resources, or whether resources in undergraduate cultivation are shared with those in postgraduate training. In the background of the resource scarcity, it is significant to study the economies of scope in higher education to realize intensive development of higher education. Based on the multiproduct cost function and the data of universities attached to the Ministry of Education, this paper attempts to deal with the complementarities of resources used in undergraduate cultivation, postgraduate training and research to find that universities produce these outputs without sufficient resource sharing, the diseconomies of scope in postgraduate training is highest. As far as the quality of teaching and research are concerned, diseconomies of scope of the outputs are great. The main reasons are as follows: poor distribution of facilities, teachers and books, overlapping internal management systems, and the current postgraduate cultivation model. Therefore, relative departments should take internal resource sharing in higher education into account when making the administration policy of higher education.     

Perceived rates of return to higher education: Further evidence from Cyprus

The paper provides new estimates of the perceived rates of return to higher education in Cyprus and compares them to previous estimates for the year 1994 in the same country. Both the elaborate and the short-cut methods are used in the estimation of rates of return. The estimated rates are entered as independent variables in logistic regression analysis in order to study the effect of economic considerations on the decision of secondary school students to pursue higher education. The findings show an increase in the perceived rate of return for both higher education and labour market entrants. In agreement with human capital theory, the mean rate of return to higher education expected by higher education candidates is considerably higher than that expected by labour market entrants. In two logistic regression models, the perceived rate of return to higher education, as estimated by both the elaborate and the short-cut methods, has a significant effect on the students’ intention to pursue higher studies.     

Motivations for entering and pathways of progression of disabled students in further education

Issues concerning the relevance of the human and social capital theories in further education and particularly in the inclusion of disabled people are highlighted. Data are drawn from an ongoing ethnographic study into the experiences of disabled students in two further education colleges. Extracts from 12 focus group discussions with 70 students as well as fieldnotes from observation of courses and other college activities are used to map out the pathways by which the participants entered and progressed through the college and the courses they undertook. Also explored is the significance of the college experience in the student's lives and the extent it has succeeded in enhancing their degree of social inclusion.     

Economic cost analysis in higher education: The university of mid-America and traditional institutions compared

Economic cost analysis is a method of looking at resources and measuring the efficiency with which those resources are used to attain goals. The author first discusses some methodology for and problems inherent in analyzing economic costs of educational institutions and then presents findings from cost studies of higher education institutions of two types—(1) the University of Mid-America, a regional open university with central management offices in Lincoln, Nebraska, and state organizations in Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska through which students can enroll in televised credit courses, and (2) a sample of traditional institutions of higher education in Indiana.     

Findings on Economies of Scale in Higher Education: Implications for Strategies of Merger and Alliance

Studies on economies of scale seek to establish atwhat size an institution functions at an optimal level ofefficiency. Higher education mergers produce an increase in thescale and scope of an institution, and are commonly driven on anexpectation of economic benefit. To what extent are greatervalue for money, savings in government expenditure, significantinstitutional financial benefit, achieved through the pursuit ofeconomics-of-scale-focused policies? The paper investigates thevaried findings of sixteen studies into economies of scale andscope in higher education, associated cost factors and cost/sizerelationships, and considers the strategic implications.

     

Mass Higher Education and the English: Wherein the Colleges?

One of the distinctive features of the English encounter with mass higher education has been the uncertain and ambiguous role of further education colleges as providers of undergraduate education. Both before and during the major expansion that marked the shift to a mass scale of higher education in England, the higher education offered by colleges in the further education sector was commonly regarded as a residual or ancillary activity; its courses mostly at levels below the first degree and its growth in numbers among the slowest in higher education. In the period that followed, these same colleges were accorded a special mission in the delivery of short‐cycle undergraduate education and, through their involvement in foundation degrees, were expected to lead a large part of the expansion in future years. The elevation of this provision, from a zone of ‘low’ or no policy to one of ‘high’ policy, has coincided with a radical reform of the planning, funding and quality arrangements for post‐compulsory education. Under conditions less than favourable to the achievement of their higher education goals, colleges remain the responsibility of one administrative sector and higher education institutions the responsibility of another.     

高校多校区办学的规模与效益

在多校区办学的过程中,高校的人、财、物、办学空间等都有了显著的增加,这为高校扩大办学效益提供了必要的物质条件。由于规模与效益的非线性关系,如何控制办学规模已成为多校区办学高校亟待解决的现实课题。对于多校区办学的大学,同样也存在规模效益,当在校生人数在20000人左右时,其规模效益随着规模的扩大而增加,呈现规模经济,且其规模效益的增加主要靠人力资源的提升。但多校区办学所带来的成本增加较快,特别是不可控的可变成本或边际成本大幅增加,过大的规模将会引起规模不经济,应合理控制办学规模。     

高职网络通识课程引入与应用现状调查研究

自国家及教育部发布网络学习、在线开放课程建设等文件以来,高职院校纷纷引入网络通识课程.网络通识课程的引入和应用情况成为高校、学者研究的关注点.本研究采用网络检索法和访谈法对山东省高职院校网络通识课程引入与应用情况进行调查研究.研究发现:教务处是高职院校网络通识课程引入和管理的主要机构,引入的课程规模主要由院校实力决定,...     

Rates of return on university education with economies of scale

This paper presents measurements of the rates of return obtained from investment in university education and the changes in these rates which might be expected with expansion. The social internal rate of return varies between 5 and 11% on different undergraduate courses at the University of Bradford. The private return to the successful student averages 12.2% for those who pay their own expenses, but rises to 24.9% for students receiving the full public grant. By contrast the government is shown to receive an average of 5.1% return on its expenditure in terms of the income tax yield of the increased earnings of graduates.The authors believe that in planning future investment in higher education, marginal rates of return, rather than existing average rates, are the relevant yardstick. They show that, on the evidence of courses at the University of Bradford, marginal cost is likely to be substantially lower than present average cost, as expansion takes place. Lower costs, due to economies in staff and to the more intensive use of teaching accommodation, are shown to result in a marginal social rate of return averaging 10.8%, raising the average rate of return from its present 8.8% to 10.0%.     

Higher education institutions’ costs and efficiency: Taking the decomposition a further step

A multiproduct cost function is estimated for English higher education institutions using a panel of data from recent years. The panel approach allows estimation by means of a random parameter stochastic frontier model which provides considerable new insights in that it allows the impact on costs of inter-institutional differences in the cost function itself to be distinguished from inter-institutional differences in efficiency. The approach used here therefore resembles in some respects the non-parametric methods of efficiency evaluation. We report also on measures of average incremental cost of provision and on returns to scale and scope.