Efficiency in higher education. Empirical study in public universities of Colombia and Spain

Abstract In recent decades, Iberoamerican universities have introduced new quality assessment and accountability schemes, inspired by the New Public Management (NGP) model. In this context, efficiency in the distribution of public funds and obtaining the maximum possible return are a priority. Thus, measuring efficiency in the public sector, and specifically in higher education, has become a challenge for accounting science. The objective of this work is a proposal to calculate efficiency indices with Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models, introducing a previous step through the Analysis of Canonical Correlation (ACC). Using this technique, the aim is to improve discrimination capacity and overcome monodimensionality and lack of reliability in the representativeness of the chosen input and output variables. The study is applied in the public universities of Colombia and Spain during the years 2015 and 2016. The results obtained demonstrate the convenience of applying this preliminary step in the multivariate analysis. This reinforces the need to explore more rigorous methodologies in stages before and after the calculation of the efficiency indices. This practice increases confidence when using the indices to formulate policies and manage resources for the sector.