Efficiency of Higher Learning Institutions: Evidences from Public Universities in Tanzania

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficiency of public universities in Tanzania, in their use of human resources to produce output measured by the internal revenue generated and number of degrees conferred. The study used data envelopment analysis (DEA) for estimation of efficiency scores of 7 public universities operating in the country.

The findings of the study show that public universities in Tanzania are on average efficient in the use of human resources to produce output measured by the number of undergraduate and postgraduate graduates’ students. This indicates that public universities fulfill their primary goal of transforming knowledge to the society for the country development. On the other hand, we found that public universities are inefficient in the income generation activities. They do not use efficiently the human resources available in the generation of income from consultancies, research, fees and investments. The study recommends that public universities should improve their internal revenue generation as the way to reduce their dependence on government and donors. The improvement in revenue generation will facilitate the growth of institutions as well as increased quality of outputs due to increased investments in technology.

Keywords: Higher Learning Institutions, Public Universities, Efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis