Changes in productivity in Spanish public universities, 2002-2009

• Main Authors: Angélica María Vázquez Rojas, Carmen Pérez-Esparrells
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Autónoma de Baja California 2016-01-01
• Series: Revista Electrónica de Investigación Educativa
• Subjects: Productividad; Universidad; España
• Online Access: http://redie.uabc.mx/redie/article/view/512

This article analyzes the change in productivity in 47 Spanish universities using the Malmquist index from 2002 to 2009. The input included in the analysis consists of full-time teaching and research staff and current expenditure on goods and services, whereas the products are the number of graduates and annual scientific production per university. By using this methodology, productivity growth can be split into two parts: change in technical efficiency and technological change. The results show that an annual average change in productivity of -1.1% was recorded across all universities, with a range between -15.2% and 18.3%, which confirms the hypothesis that the Spanish Public University System is greatly heterogeneous regarding change in productivity over time. However, there are some considerable differences in the change in productivity over time when only research and only teaching are analyzed, with an annual average growth of 14.6% and 6.1% respectively. In the case of research activity, the positive changes are mainly the result of technological progress and greater productivity encouraged by the incentive system for high-impact research by teachers.