A cross-country analysis and comparison of the technical efficiency of higher education systems

Abstract

The study of the performance of primary and secondary educational institutions has gained popularity in recent years, but cross-country evaluations of higher education (HE) systems remain rare. This study aims to fill this gap by assessing the technical efficiency (TE) of 87 national HE systems using stochastic production frontier models. The empirical model considers, for each country, the number of universities in the 2023 SCImago Institutions Ranking (SIR) by knowledge areas as the dependent variable, and GDP, R&D expenditures, and national English proficiency as explanatory variables. To offer a comprehensive analysis, the model is applied across all SIR ranking levels. Results show that Western countries generally lead in TE, but three performance profiles emerge: countries that concentrate their resources on a few HE institutions (efficient at the top SIR levels), others with homogeneous HE institutions (high TE across all levels), and low-performance HE systems. Policy implications are discussed.