Measuring efficiency of Higher Education institutions

Abstract

In this paper, we use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier (SF) analysis to obtain efficiency ranking and scores of Italian universities. The results are then compared. Differences between DEA and SF results are more attributable to heterogeneity among universities than to differences in methodologies. Indeed, after clustering universities in homogenous groups, similarities between DEA and SF results emerge. Finally, some policy implications are derived.