C.S. Salerno

Changing Models and Patterns of Higher Education Funding: Some Empirical Evidence

Although the role of universities in the knowledge society is increasingly significant, there remains a severe lack of systematic quantitative evidence at the micro-level, with virtually all policy discussion based on country level statistics or case studies. This book redresses the balance by examining original data from universities in six European countries – Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

Using Data Envelopment Analysis to Improve Estimates of Higher Education Institution's Per-student Education Costs

Abstract This paper puts forth a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to estimating higher education institutions’ per‐student education costs (PSCs) in an effort to redress a number of methodological problems endemic to such estimations, particularly the allocation of shared expenditures between education and other institutional activities. An example is given using data for a sample of higher education institutions in The Netherlands and the results are compared with PSC estimates generated by a more traditional approach. Although several methodological concerns still persist, the use of DEA is argued to increase the likelihood of producing more realistic cost estimates for individual institutions.

Public Money and private providers : Funding channels and national patterns in four countries

A rich body of literature has emerged that seeks to shed further light on how concepts like globalization and internationalization shape higher education systems and their institutions. This paper examines how the rise of private higher education in various national contexts has engendered global patterns of public financial support for private institutions and particularly the various ways in which public funding is channeled to such providers. A cross-national typology of public/private higher education sectors and a system-level ‘map’ of how public funding is directed to institutions are both used to explain why different patterns may emerge. This framework is then used to examine the policies and practices in four representative systems: England, Germany, New Zealand, and the state of Pennsylvania in the United States. The available evidence suggests that in systems with weak or newly emerging private sectors, unclear regulations and concerns about quality implies that public funding tends to be channeled into private institutions indirectly (e.g. through tax-abatements and student financial aid). In systems where private institutions play a more substantial role, public funding is channeled to privates using a mix of indirect and direct mechanisms.