Performance Management in Universities: Effects of the Transition to More Quantitative Measurement Systems

The measurement of research and teaching performance is increasingly common within universities, driven probably by the rise of New Public Management (NPM). Although changing over time and varying from country to country, NPM involves the use of private sector methods in the public sector. Traditionally, performance measurement in universities has had a developmental role – helping individuals to improve their (future) performance. However, the new systems seem more judgemental – i.e. seeking to quantitatively evaluate (past) performance. We study performance measurement in two Accounting and Finance groups – one in the Netherlands and one in the UK. In both we see an increasing use of judgemental forms of performance evaluation and, in particular, the use of more quantitative performance measures. The use of these more judgemental quantitative systems is seen to have various effects. Although these systems emphasise objective quantitative measures, they relocate subjectivities (usually at a greater distance from the subject), rather than remove them. This creates uncertainty and anxiety about how the systems are used. There is a danger that the new systems could inhibit creativity in teaching and limit contributions to the world outside the university. Furthermore, they could damage creativity and innovation in accounting research – as researchers play safe in getting the publications they need. As we are both researchers and practitioners in this area, we should be challenging these trends and pointing to the dangers for research (and teaching) in our field.     

Efficiency and technological change at US research universities

This article investigates the determinants of efficiency and technological progress at US research universities. It relies on a unique panel data set of multiple outputs and inputs from 92 universities covering the period 1981–1998. Over that time span, US universities experienced large increases in industry funding and in academic patenting activity. In this context, the directional distance function and a nonparametric representation of the underlying production technology are combined to obtain estimates of productivity growth and technical efficiency. An econometric analysis is then presented to examine the determinants of technical efficiency and the rate of technological progress. The results show how changes in funding sources for US research universities affects research performance.     

A convex polytope technique for analysing the performance of universities

As a technique for analysing the performance of institutions of higher education, the convex polytope technique has a number of advantages; it can accommodate (1) multiple inputs and outputs (2) joint production (3) non-linear input-output relationships and (4) data for individual institutions rather than data representative of the institutional set. This paper discusses a general convex polytope technique for exploratory data analysis and its particular application to analysing the input-output relationships in universities. Its use is illustrated by means of a simple analysis of data from Australian universities. The technique is considered to have application both in fundamental research into the nature of the relationship between inputs and outputs and in providing useful empirical information for practical decision-making in universities and colleges.     

Do research institutes benefit from their network positions in research collaboration networks with industries or/and universities?

There is scarce empirical evidence on the impact of inter-organizational collaboration across research institutes, industries or/and universities on the scientific performance of research institutes. This paper fills this gap by examining how the research institutes’ bilateral/trilateral collaborations with industries or/and universities influence their research outputs from a network perspective. We construct a unique dataset based on the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ inter-organizational research collaboration networks with industries or/and universities, which enables us to build three homogeneous, heterogeneous and hybrid inter-organizational research networks as our multi-scenario sample. Our study confirms that the scientific performance of research institutes is significantly affected by their network positions in the research collaboration networks with industries or/and universities. Specifically, in the homogeneous “University-Research Institute” (UR) collaboration network, the degree centrality and the structural holes of the research institutes affect their scientific performance respectively in an inverted U-shaped manner and a positive linear one. By contrast, in both the heterogeneous “Industry-Research Institute” (IR) and the hybrid “Industry-University-Research Institute” (IUR) collaboration networks, the degree centrality and the structural holes of research institutes affect their scientific performance respectively in a positive linear manner and an inverted U-shaped one. Our findings indicate that the impact pattern of the network positions of innovative organizations on their performance likely varies with the network structure and composition in different inter-organizational contexts.     

西安市普通高校大学生阳光体育运动长效机制研究

为了建立阳光体育运动的长效机制,本文运用文献资料法和问卷调查法对陕西省24所高校阳光体育开展现状和运行绩效现状进行调查分析,在此基础上提出长效发展途径与对策,建立长效机制,为阳光体育运动在高校积极有效的开展提供理论依据。     

Contract employment policy and research productivity of knowledge workers: an analysis of Spanish universities

Abstract

This article investigates how contract employment practices adopted by universities—fixed-term contracts and permanent contracts—impact research productivity measured in terms of publications in scholarly journals. The empirical application considers the Spanish public higher education system for the period 2002–2008. We report an inverse U-shaped relationship between the rate fixed-term contracts and the research productivity of Spanish universities. That is, contract policies based on fixed-term contracts are conducive to research productivity; however, beyond a critical threshold value increases in the proportion of fixed-term contracts are associated with declining research productivity. These findings reveal that contract employment policies shape research productivity, and that flexible and balanced contract practices are critical for enhancing universities’ research productivity. The results suggest that the excessive use of fixed-term contracts might create an unstable working environment that limits the universities’ capacity to capitalize on their knowledge workers. Policy implications and future research avenues are discussed.     

聚类方法在高等学校绩效评价中的应用

高等学校都试图构建绩效评价体系,增强本校的竞争力和综合实力。本文以绩效评价、平衡计分卡等理论为指导．借鉴国内外高校绩效评价的经验,建立了高等学校绩效评价指标体系。指标体系综合考虑高等学校的财务绩效、办学效果、内部管理、学习与成长等4个方面。并且通过建立的指标体系,应用聚类挖掘方法,分别横向和纵向分析了教育部直属的72所高校2002—2006年的绩效评价指标数据,指出高等学校绩效评价分析系统中存在的问题,评价结果的信息主要用于帮助各级管理人员迅速获得高校运行的准确信息,在没有限定类别的情况下,运用数据挖掘的聚类方法把评价指标相似的学校划分到一个类中。对高等学校进行聚类评价,为分析使用提供依据,以期构建一个有利于高等学校绩效评价的决策支持环境。     

浅谈高校国有资产管理——山东高校国有资产管理侧记

随着高校扩招,新校区的建设,高校的资产急剧膨胀。如何管好、用好资产是摆在高校面前一个现实而迫切的问题。因此,加强资产管理工作已经里所当然的成为高校的重要议题。首先明确高校国有资产的定义,继而指出高校资产管理中存在的问题,最后以山东高校资产管理的变革为代表,指出高校资产管理努力的方向。要求在高校资产管理中一定要革新观念、理顺体制、完善制度,利用现代化信息技术,科学、合理优化资产配置,提高使用效益,更好的为高校教学、科研服务,确保国有资产安全、完整,保值、增值,防止资产流失。     

Entrepreneurship and knowledge spillovers from the public sector

A compelling body of research has found that investments in knowledge from other firms and universities spill over to enhance the performance of entrepreneurial firms. This literature has shown that firm performance is positively related to investments in new knowledge by other firms and research universities. This paper addresses a gap in the literature by positing that public sector knowledge is also conducive to enhancing performance by knowledge intensive entrepreneurial (KIE) firms. Our findings suggest that the public sector provides a fertile source of knowledge for enhancing KIE firm performance.

     

Research performance evaluation of Chinese university: A non-homogeneous network DEA approach

Performance evaluation for universities or research institutions has become a hot topic in recent years. However, the previous works rarely investigate the multiple departments’ performance of a university, and especially, none of them consider the non-homogeneity among the universities’ departments. In this paper, we develop data envelopment analysis (DEA) models to evaluate the performance of general non-homogeneous decision making units (DMUs) with two-stage network structures and then apply them to a university in China. Specifically, the first stage is faculty research process, and the second stage is student research process. We first spit each DMU (i.e. department) into a combination of several mutually exclusive maximal input subgroups and output subgroups in terms of their homogeneity in both stages. Then an additive DEA model is proposed to evaluate the performance of the overall efficiency of the non-homogeneous DMUs with two-stage network structure. By analyzing the empirical results, some implications are provided to support the university to promote the research performance of each department as well as the whole university.     

民办高校如何有效的建设工科类实验室

高校的工科类实验室在教学和科研中的作用举足轻重,但在实验室的建设过程中,高校往往面临经费不足和使用效率不高的矛盾,严重制约了学科的发展和人才的培养,这一现象在民办高校中尤为突出。文章在对目前民办高校工科类实验室的现状及其存在的问题进行分析的基础上,结合三江学院电子信息工程学院的实际情况,讨论了我院实验室建设和发展的路径,提出了今后民办工科类院校实验室建设的一些基本思路。     

基于预算绩效视角的高校预决算衔接问题研究

本文从预算绩效的视角,对提高高校预决算衔接有效性展开研究,对提高高校经费使用效益,提高高校教育质量具有重要意义,也对促进高等教育的可持续发展具有重要影响。     

Talent management in academia: performance systems and HRM policies

Talent and performance management are becoming a key strategic HRM issue for universities. This study adds to our knowledge by critically examining recruitment and selection practices for junior and senior academic talent in the Netherlands. We show that academic subfields differ in terms of how appointments are organised, how candidates are sought and identified and how performance indicators play a role in recruitment. We identify three key dilemmas in talent and performance management for universities: (a) transparency versus autonomy, (b) power of HR versus power of academics, (c) equality versus homogeneity. This article challenges the view of an academic world where the allocation of rewards and resources is governed by the normative principles of transparency and objective performance systems, and it highlights the distance between these HRM instruments and the actuality of social interaction in academic recruitment practices.     

高校科研经费管理现存的若干问题及对策

随着高校扩招规模的逐步扩大,高校的科研水平进一步提升,各学校越来越重视其科研经费管理工作。本文针对高校科研经费管理这一问题作了分析和研究。     

Unit cost studies in French Universities

This paper sets out: (1) to outline the methodology for and (2) to compare the results of research into unit costs at a number of French Universities.Techniques of output budgeting are used by teams in seven universities. The methodology is original in a number of respects and the article shows how teaching staff costs non-teaching staff costs and building and equipment costs are presented, so as to give the cost of each Licence granted in a number of disciplines.It seems that in non-scientific courses, French costs per graduate are a good deal lower than in most other countries and much may be learned from French Universities where resource use efficiency is concerned.     

基于组织结构的高校绩效预算考评体系构建

针对当前高校绩效预算管理研究中存在的考评责任主体不明确问题,论文试以高校组织结构为平台,以构建一个闭环的高校预算绩效考评体系为目标,分别从建立高校绩效预算评价体系,构建高校绩效预算考评指标,制定与考评结果相配套的促进机制三个方面对基于组织结构的高校绩效预算考评体系进行了研究。     

关于完善我国高校融资方式的研究

近年来,我国的高等教育的发展十分的迅速,各个高校为了扩大招生规模不断的进行校舍的建设,但是由于各个高校的筹资渠道单一导致各个高校的经费严重不足,各高校如何开拓新的融资渠道满足高校的扩建和发展是摆在我们大家面前的一个重要的课题。本文主要针对目前关于高校融资方面的定性研究比较多而定量研究比较少的现状而展开了山东省内部分高校的融资情况进行的定量调查研究,总结出目前存在于高校中关于融资情况的问题。最后在理论分析和实例分析的基础上并结合我们国家当前的融资政策,从市场经济发展的角度提出了完善和拓展我国高等院校融资渠道多元化发展的几点建议。     

Rules of engagement

Collaborative research between universities and pharmaceutical companies is a form of public?–?private sector partnership that raises important issues of governance and research integrity. The article analyses this from a stakeholder perspective with particular reference to clinical trial collaborations. Constraints and pressures on universities involved in collaborative projects are identified, together with implications for research integrity. A stakeholder systems model is offered as a means of identifying and reconciling disparate stakeholder perspectives, and its organizational justice dimensions enable evaluation of perceptions of fairness in system operation. The article contends incorporation of stakeholder views on system rationale, process and evaluation can enhance effectiveness, social responsibility and stakeholder commitment.     

校园金融信息化与高校管理现代化研究

本文通过分析传统高校行政管理的弊端,引出高校现代化管理的研究课题。并以高校金融信息系统为主线,着重探讨了现代化管理中的金融决策管理和高校金融信息化的建设。最后阐述了如何利用高校金融信息化进行高校现代化决策管理。     

Computerized performance monitoring: A review of human resource issues

The increasing use of computerized performance monitoring (CPM) systems across a variety of organizational settings has stirred controversy and induced change into the performance appraisal process. This article reviews research concerning CPM in four general areas which include the impact of CPM on (a) employee attitudes and perceptions; (b) employee stress perceptions; (c) job performance; and, (d) the performance monitoring process. Research based guidelines and issues for the design and implementation of an effective CPM system are suggested. The potential for enhancing employee development is also discussed.