Cost efficiency of administrative service in public higher education in Poland

Purpose: The aim of the study is to determine changes in the cost efficiency of the administration of public higher education in Poland. Design/methodology/approach: The biennial cost Malmquist productivity index was used to study changes in cost efficiency of 58 public higher education institutions in 2014-2016. The results were presented for 6 groups of universities, according to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland classification. Findings: The research shows that out of 6 groups of institutions accepted for the study, 2 achieved an increase and 1 a decrease in the Malmquist cost index in both study periods. Changes in the Malmquist cost index in the analyzed period are small as the index ranged from 0.98 to 1.06. Both component overall efficiency change and cost-technical change contributed to the change in the Malmquist index level. Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of the study are the analysis of changes in cost efficiency only. Additionally, only public universities supervised by the ministry responsible for higher education were studied. Future research should include changes in allocative efficiency using the Malmquist index. In addition, a larger research sample should be considered, taking into account other public universities, including medical, arts, etc., and non-public universities. Practical implications: The considerations presented are relevant to public university authorities. The article indicates the need to assess cost effectiveness in evaluating the functioning of a higher education institution. This belongs to the responsibilities of management control in terms of effectiveness and efficiency of HEIs and spending of public funds. Information on the variation of cost efficiency between HEIs, assigned to 6 groups, may become a stimulus to conduct an assessment of this economic category in a given unit and strive to improve it. Originality/value: The added value of the article is the use for the first time of the cost Malmquist index to examine higher education. Also, the use of a modified version of the cost Malmquist index to estimate efficiency assuming variable returns-to-scale.