1,721,250 research outputs found
The underlying signals of efficiency in European universities: a combined efficiency and machine learning approach
Get PDFThis study explores the critical determinants of efficiency in European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The contemporary landscape presents a wide range of challenges and opportunities, necessitating unprecedented levels of efficiency. Our primary objective is to unravel the fundamental elements that drive the efficiency of European HEIs. To achieve this, we employ a novel methodological approach, integrating Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with a Machine Learning technique, specifically Feature Selection. This combination sheds new light on areas previously less explored in DEA, including the intricate interplay among variables. Our empirical investigation contributes to the academic discourse by presenting a comprehensive, multi-country analysis from a multifaceted viewpoint. We assess the efficiency levels of European universities, highlighting the influence of factors such as student fee funding, Ph.D. program intensity, and international mobility on achieving high efficiency scores. The findings of this study have some implications for policy-making, suggesting strategies to enhance the efficiency levels of HEIs
L’éducation financière à l’école
No full textVu l’importance de la compétence financière des jeunes, Geert Van Campenhout,Kenneth De Beckker et Kristof De Witte abordent plus particulièrement l’éducation financière à l’école. Ils formulent plusieurs points d’attention importants, basés sur des observations récentes et des constats, dans le but de développer une approche efficace de l’éducation financière à l’école. La première partie dresse la toile de fond sur base de laquelle on peut réfléchir au développement de stratégies visant à accroître les compétences financières. Le degré de compétence financière sera évalué de façon chiffrée, puis comparé entre la communauté flamande et la communauté francophone. La seconde partie propose une cartographie de la situation actuelle en Belgique et les réflexions par rapport à l’implémentation
de l’éducation financière à l’école. Cette analyse débouche sur des recommandations politiques pour une approche plus intégrée.status: Publishe
Financiële vorming op school
No full textHet is belangrijk dat jongeren beschikken over financiële vaardigheden.Daarom snijden Geert Van Campenhout, Kenneth De Beckker en Kristof De Witte het onderwerp financiële voorlichting op school aan. Ze formuleren enkele belangrijke aandachtspunten, gebaseerd op recente observaties en vaststellingen, met het doel om financiële voorlichting efficiënt aan te pakken op school. Het eerste deel schetst
de achtergrond op basis waarvan ze een strategie kunnen uitwerken om jongeren financiële vaardigheden bij te brengen. Hun financiële vaardigheid zal in cijfervorm beoordeeld worden, waarbij de Nederlandstalige en de Franstalige gemeenschap vergeleken worden. Het volgende deel brengt de huidige situatie in België in kaart en onderzoekt
de invoering van financiële voorlichting op school. Deze analyse mondt uit in beleidsaanbevelingen voor een coherentere aanpak.status: Publishe
The impact of scholarships on students’ performance: a study on five Italian universities
Get PDFThis paper estimates the effect of receiving a need-based grant on the performance of university students in Italy. We perform both cross-sectional (between-universities) and within-universities propensity score matching analyses in order to evaluate the effect of grants on several students’ performance indicators as first year credits, dropout, and study efficiency. The findings suggest that financial aid positively affects students’ performances and completion in a substantial and statistically robust way. The positive impact is heterogeneous across universities, while few differences are detected for subgroups of students within them. Reinforcing the financial aid policy can simultaneously help disadvantaged students and foster the overall academic performance of Italian universities
Sustainable budgeting and financial balance: Which lever will you pull?
Get PDFDuring the past few decades, countries have experienced a remarkable increase in local expenditure levels to address rising local needs. However, the limited availability of financial resources, exacerbated first by the 2008 financial crisis and then by Covid19 crisis, has called for budget restrictions usually imposed by higher levels of government. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of a balance budget rule enforcement, exploring its effect on the local government cost efficiency and, in particular, considering the complex trade-off between efficiency and equity. Specifically, our identification strategy considers the exogenous introduction of a new budget balance rule that requires local governments to respect both an annual and a longer-term equilibrium criterion. The difference-in-differences analysis builds on a rich panel dataset covering all the public functions. We find that, on average, the budget rule enforcement exerted a positive effect on local government efficiency.(c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Big data and the measurement of public organizations’ performance and efficiency: The state-of-the-art
Get PDF© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. The increasing availability of statistical data raises opportunities for ‘big’ data and learning analytics. Here, we review the academic literature and research relating to the use of big data analytics in the public sector, and its contribution to public organizations’ performance and efficiency. We outline the advantages as well as the limitations of using big data in public sector organizations and identify research gaps in recent studies and interesting areas for future research.status: Publishe
The influence of school size, principal characteristics and school management practices on educational performance: An efficiency analysis of Italian students attending middle schools
Get PDFThe aim of the paper is to identify which among the aspects that relate to the composition of the student body, school (district) size, management practices and the school principals' own characteristics are associated with the performance of Italian students at grade 8, measured through standardised test scores in reading and mathematics. The analysis makes use of a student-level efficiency model, and several school level variables are included as explanators for efficiency scores. The results show that, especially for reading, the most influential variables relate to the composition of the student body, while the students' performance in mathematics is partly correlated with the management practices adopted by the school principal/head teacher. Schools and schooling can only explain a minor part of the variance in achievement scores, however, and the characteristics of the students themselves play the most significant role
The added value of more accurate predictions for school rankings
Get PDFSchool rankings based on value-added (VA) estimates are subject to prediction errors, since VA is defined as the difference between predicted and actual performance. We introduce the use of random forest (RF), rooted in the machine learning literature, as a more flexible approach to minimize prediction errors and to improve school rankings. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate the advantages of this approach. Applying the proposed method to Italian middle school data indicates that school rankings are sensitive to prediction errors, even when extensive controls are added. RF estimates provide a low-cost way to increase the accuracy of predictions, resulting in more informative rankings, and more impact of policy decisions
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