UNICA Rectors’ Seminar Dubrovnik, July 2009 Which way to quality? Rankings vs Benchmarks Stavros A. Zenios Professor of Management Science Rector, University of Cyprus UNICA President

OUTLINE  About quality  Rankings vs Benchmarks  UNICA Administrative Excellence Observatory

On Rankings  They tell you where you are  They don’t tell you how you got there  They don’t tell you how to move up  They describe a complex situation in one number  Why use them? –Governments like them –Students like them –Funding agents like them –Halo effect  Rectors should use them as “the way to quality” map

European Foundation for Quality Management

On Quality  Multidimensional  Link cause and effect –Observe “non-actionable” variables  Rankings  Number of publications, citations, faculty with Nobel –Measure “actionable” variables  Salaries, autonomy, hiring policies, facilities  Benchmark with similar institutions  Identify best practices  Innovation makes perfect

Linking Shanghai rankings with actionable items  Budget per student  University governance –Public status-0.35 –Budget autonomy+0.16 –Building autonomy-0.01 –Hiring autonomy+0.20 –Wage setting autonomy+0.27  Hiring own PhDs-0.08

Benchmarking  Determine key inputs - actionable  Decide on key outputs – non-actionable  Use Linear Programming to fit a multidimensional envelope

Benchmarking: efficiency or effectiveness  Efficiency: doing things right –Number of students per faculty –Publications per faculty –Average years to degree completion  Effectiveness: doing the right things –Quality of education, ability to learn –Citations per faculty –Contribution to knowledge  Multi-dimensional

Holistic  EUA Institutional Evaluation Program –Bird’s eye view –Leadership –Policy and strategy –Stakeholders’ view –Capacity for change  Departmental Peer review –Customers’ view –Internal customers’ view –Stakeholders’ view –Critical indicators  Procedures? Personnel Management? Resources?

The UNICA Observatory on Administrative Excelence  Procedures  Personnel management  Facilities management  Decentralization  Resources

Performance benchmarking UCY - AUEB  Determine key performance indicators  Collect data from European Universities  Benchmark UCY viz-a-viz other European Universities

Performance benchmarking UCY - AUEB  Survey from 506 Universities  Humane 168  AUEB 103  EUA (rest) 134  US (facilities planning) 17  US (top Universities) 47  UNICA 37  52 respondents

Online questionnaire  Standardized  Colour coded  Definitions, precision  Technical specification  Control questions

Comparative analysis

Δείκτης Non Academic Staff Allocated to Schools-Departments / Total Number of non Academic Staff ΣκοπόςDecentralization bobobobo-37,89 b1b1b1b10,51 Τιμή Πανεπιστημίου Κύπρου 0,19 Απόκλιση -54% Implicit relations

The UNICA Observatory on Administrative Excellence  On line system for benchmarking  Calibrate implicit relations  Address the PROCESSES and RESOURCES aspects of quality management  Supplement EUA Institutional Evaluation Programs  UNICA Policy: Learn from each other