Technical Efficiency of African Public Universities: A Data Envelopment Analysis

摘要

Using the Data Envelopment Analysis techniques, the study examines the relative technical efficiency of 15 African public universities using 2000-2007 data set. The operating environment is adjusted to ascertain the extent to which it affects the relative efficiency scores of the universities. The universities post mean technical efficiency scores of: 0.886, 0.900 and 0.971 for the general model, teaching-only and research-only model, respectively. African public universities are hence more efficient in their research function than in their teaching function. The productivity gains of the universities are attributed more to embracement of technological advancements in both their teaching and research function rather than to improvements in the efficiency of their internal processes.