Technical efficiency heterogeneity of tertiary institutions in Viet Nam: a metafrontier directional technology approach
Abstract
The higher education system of Viet Nam has been undergoing reform process with the aim of seeking a position in the world’s education market. However, recent changes in the system have made the operational efficiency of the system less stable, thus making it more challenging to improve the country’s universities world rankings. In this paper, we investigate the performance of tertiary education institutions in Viet Nam and evaluate the efficiency gap between colleges and universities. Using the metafrontier directional technology approach, we estimate both the group frontier and metafrontier efficiencies for 112 universities and 141 colleges using data for 2011–2013 and compute their differences imposed by the technology associated with different levels of ownership and locations. The findings showed that the performance of universities were better than that of colleges, at 0.837 0.774, respectively. However, under an unrestricted metafrontier framework, the metatechnology ratios suggest that universities and colleges were operated comparatively well by potentially increasing their performance by 7.8 and 5.0 per cent, respectively. Both urban universities and colleges are found to be more efficient than their rural counterparts, but the effects of ownerships showed mixed results on the performance of universities and colleges. Our results highlight the need for appropriate policies and enabling environment that will enhance the performance of each institution. It is imperative to re-evaluate the specific role and individual contributions of colleges and universities in the national education system and assist rural universities and colleges to explore their full potential to enhance their performance.
First published online 17 September 2019
Keyword : data envelopment analysis, directional distance, higher education institutions, metafrontier, technological heterogeneity
How to Cite
Villano, R. A., & Tran, C.-D. T. T. (2019). Technical efficiency heterogeneity of tertiary institutions in Viet Nam: a metafrontier directional technology approach. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 25(6), 1058-1080. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2019.7452
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Bogetoft, P., & Otto, L. (2011). Benchmarking with DEA, SFA and R. New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7961-2
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Carrington, R., Coelli, T., & Rao, P. (2005). The performance of Australian Universities: conceptual issues and preliminary results. Economic Papers, 24(2), 145-163. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-3441.2005.tb01001.x
Castano, M. C. N., & Cabanda, E. (2007a). Source of efficiency and productivity growth in the Philippine state universities and colleges: A nonparametric approach. International Business and Economics Research Journal, 6(6), 79-90.
Castano, M. C. N., & Cabanda, E. (2007b). Performance evaluation of the efficiency of Philippine private higher educational institutions: Application of frontier approaches. International Transactions in Operational Research, 14(5), 431-444. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-3995.2007.00599.x
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Chiu, C.-R., Lu, K.-H., Tsang, S.-S., & Chen, Y.-F. (2013). Decomposition of metafrontier inefficiency in the two-stage network directional distance function with quasi-fixed inputs. International Transactions in Operational Research, 20(4), 595-611. https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.12008
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Daraio, C., Bonaccorsi, A., & Simar, L. (2015). Efficiency and economies of scale and specialization in European universities: A directional distance approach. Journal of Informetrics, 9(3), 430-448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2015.03.002
de Franca, J. M. F., de Figueiredo, J. N., & Lapa, J. D. S. (2010). A DEA methodology to evaluate the impact of information asymmetry on the efficiency of not-for-profit organisations with an application to higher education in Brazil. Annals of Operations Research, 173(1), 39-56. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-009-0536-1
Duh, R.-R., Chen, K.-T., Lin, R.-C., & Kuo, L.-C. (2014). Do internal controls improve operating efficiency of universities? Annals of Operations Research, 221(1), 173-195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-011-0875-6
Emrouznejad, A., & Thanassoulis, E. (2005). A mathematical model for dynamic efficiency using data envelopment analysis. Applied Mathematics and Computation, 160(2), 363-378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amc.2003.09.026
Färe, R., & Grosskopf, S. (2000). Theory and application of directional distance functions. Journal of Productivity Analysis, 13(2), 93-103. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007844628920
Färe, R., & Grosskopf, S. (2004). Modelling undesirable factors in efficiency evaluation: Comments, European Journal of Operational Research, 57(1), 242-245. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(03)00191-7
Färe, R., Grosskopf, S., & Margaritis, D. (2008). Efficiency and productivity: Malmquist and more, in H. O. Fried, C. A. K. Lovell, & S. S. Schmidt (Eds.), The measurement of productive efficiency and productivity growth (pp. 522-622). New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183528.003.0005
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Glewwe, P. (2004). An overview of economic growth and household welfare in Vietnam in the 1990s. In P. Glewwe, N. Agrawal, & D. Dollar (Eds.), economic growth, poverty and household welfare in Vietnam (pp. 1-27). Work bank Regional & Sectorial Studies.
Government Statistics Office. (2013). The 2013 Statistical Handbook. Retrieved from http://www.gso.gov.vn/default.aspx?tabid=512&idmid=5&ItemID=14944
Hoang, T. (2013). Khong the de meo gia hoa cao trong giao duc [Impossible for a lack of discipline in upgrading from colleges to universities]. Retrieved from http://vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/xa-hoi/giaoduc/khong-the-de-meo-gia-hoa-cao-trong-giao-duc-2878045.html
Hayami, Y. (1969). Sources of agricultural productivity gap among selected countries. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 51(3), 564-575. https://doi.org/10.2307/1237909
Hayami, Y., & Ruttan, V. W. (1970). Agricultural productivity differences among countries. The American Economic Review, 60, 895-911.
Hsiao, B., Chern, C-C., & Yu, M-M. (2012). Measuring the relative efficiency of IC design firms using the directional distance function and a metafrontier approach. Decision Support System, 53(4), 881-891. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2012.05.017
Husain, W. R. W. (2012). Comparative evaluation of public universities in Malaysia using data envelopment analysis (PhD Thesis). Warwick Business School, the University of Warwick, Conventy, England.
Johnes, J. (1996). Performance assessment in higher education in Britain. European Journal of Operations Research, 89, 18-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(96)90048-X
Lin, E. Y.-Y., Chen, P.-Y., & Chen, C. C. (2013). Measuring the environmental efficiency of countries: A directional distance function metafrontier approach. Journal of Environmental Management, 119, 134-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.01.015
Lindsay, A. W. (1982). Institutional performance in higher education: The efficiency dimension. Review of Educational Research, 52(2), 175-199. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543052002175
London, D. J. (2010). Globalization and the governance of education in Vietnam, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 30(4), 361-379. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2010.520202
Lu, Y. H., & Chen, K. H. (2013). Appraising the cost efficiency of higher technological and vocational education institutions in Taiwan using the metafrontier cost-function model. Research in Higher Education, 54(6), 627-663. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-013-9292-9
Miranda, R., Gramani, M. C., & Andrade, E. 2012. Technical efficiency of business administration courses: A simultaneous analysis using DEA and SFA, International Transactions in Operational Research 19(6), 847-862. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-3995.2012.00857.x
Ministry of Education and Training [MOET]. (2016). Statistics on universities in 2015–2016. Retrieved from http://www.moet.gov.vn/thong-ke/Pages/thong-ko-giao-duc-dai-hoc.aspx?ItemID=4041
Muszynski, B. (2008). Vietnam’s challenging take-off. In Global Issues in the Contemporary World: Politics, Economics and Public Policy (pp. 328-343). Retrieved from http://www.uni-potsdam.de/sozpol/ fileadmin/.../Vietnam__s_Take-Off.pdf
Nguyen, T. T. H., Thenet, G., & Nguyen, K. M. (2015). Applying DEA sensitivity analysis to efficiency measurement of Vietnamese universities. Management Science Letters, 5, 983-992. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.msl.2015.9.002
Nguyen, N. S., & Tran, T. T. T. (2009). Financing Vietnam’s growth domestic and foreign sources of development. Vietnam Development Forum. Hanoi: Labor Publishing House.
O’Donnell, C. J., Rao, D. S. P., & Battese, G. E. (2008). Metafrontier frameworks for the study of firmlevel efficiencies and technology ratios. Empirical Economics, 34(2), 231-255. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-007-0119-4
Pham, T. H. T. (2011). Doi Moi (renovation) and higher education reform in Vietnam. International Journal of Educational Reform, 20(3), 210-225.
Pham, V. L. (2013). Toi coi doi moi giao duc lan nay la tran danh lon [I asserted that restructuring education this time is an enormous fight]. Retrieved from http://vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/xa-hoi/giao-duc/toi-coi-doi-moi-giao-duc-lan-nay-la-tran-danh-lon-2886136.html
Schwab, K. (2013). Global Competitiveness Report 2013-14. (Full data edition). Switzerland, Geneva.
Simar, L., Vanhems, A., & Wilson, P. W. (2012). Statistical inference for DEA estimators of directional distances. European Journal of Operational Research, 220(3), 853-864. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2012.02.030
Sullivan, T. A., Mackie, C., Massy, W. F., & Sinha, E. (2012). Improving measurement of productivity in higher education. Washington, D.C: The National Academies Press.
Thanassoulis, E., Kortelainen, M., Johnes, G., & Johnes, J. (2011). Costs and efficiency of higher education institutions in England: A DEA analysis. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 62(7), 1282-1297. https://doi.org/10.1057/jors.2010.68
Tran, C-D. T. T., & Villano, R. A. (2015). Measuring efficiency of Vietnamese public colleges: An application of the DEA-based dynamic network approach. International Transactions in Operational Research, 25(2), 683-703. https://doi.org/10.1111/itor.12212
Tran, C-D. T. T., & Villano, R. A. (2017a). An empirical analysis of the performance of Vietnamese higher education institutions. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 41(4), 530-544. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2015.1135886
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