Understanding and improving higher education productivity

Abstract

Higher education has grown to play a major role in many countries, spurring much greater interest in the costs and returns of education and research. This amplifies interest in productivity, a matter which stimulates substantial interest and debate in many areas of higher education. Yet surprisingly little scholarly research has been conducted to develop methods and insights for understanding and improving higher education productivity in its various outputs, including teaching and research. Most existing work has been funded for political, advocacy or commercial purposes, and it is common for research to misapply general productivity models to higher education, thereby hindering effective a..