Abstract:

This work measures and compares the financial efficiency of more than 2K Portuguese private institutions divided into three educational levels: basic, secondary and higher education, in the period 2006-2016. Taking into account that the financial crisis, which originated in 2008, had a degree of impact on the European education system, and in particular, Portugal was one of the countries that needed the intervention of the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank (the so-called Troika); the analysis in this paper, is presented in a way that allows to visualize the efficiency of the Portuguese institutions versus the different stages generated by the crisis. In this sense the data were divided into three periods: P1 (pre-crisis: 2006-2008), P2 (pre-troika: 2009-12), and P3 (troika: 2013-2016).

For measuring efficiency, we use a nonparametric deterministic method that allows us to investigate changes in the institutions' efficiency standards, namely a model based on the Multidirectional Efficiency Analysis (MEA) proposed in [1], in combination with other mathematical techniques. To select the most significant input and output variables, we use Principal Component Analysis. To avoid underfitting or overfitting, we performed the testdim dimensionality test, which allows the testing of the number of axes in the multivariate analysis. The procedure is based on the calculation of the RV coefficient, introduced in [2]. In addition to calculating the MEA score for each institution, we calculated the inefficiency index of each entry individually and the accumulative effort of each education level, to compare units over time measuring the effort to obtain input resources.

According to the Key Data on Education in Europe 2012, published by the Eurydice Organization (see [3]), Portugal was described as one of the two countries that contributed most to the slight increase in the European level of the proportion of students in private institutions (1.1\%). In fact, Portugal, presented the highest percentage of students in independent private institutions (13.4\%). The analysis of private institutions in this study, focused on efficiency levels; efficiency patterns; and the determinants of efficiency, which allowed us to characterize the profile of the institutions that are more efficient. The results showed that, due to the strong financial crisis experienced in Portugal, P2 was the most inefficient period. Higher education was the most efficient during the study period, requiring considerable effort to access resources. The level of secondary education used resources in the most inefficient way, and basic education was characterized by the worst management of long-term debt in the P1 period.

References:
[1] P. Bogetoft and J. L. Hougaard, Efficiency evaluations based on potential (non-proportional) improvements, Journal of Productivity Analysis, 12(3), 233-247, 1999.
[2] Robert P. and Escoufier Y, A unifying tool for linear multivariate statistical methods: the {RV} coefficient, Appl. Statist, 25, 257--265, 1976.
[3] Key Data on Education in Europe 2012, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, European Commission/EACEA, Eurydice, (2012), doi:10.2797/77414, 2012.

Keywords:

Impact of the economy on the education, private educational institutions, technical efficiency analysis, Portuguese education trends.