About the financial efficiency of the Iberian Peninsula education

Abstract

This work examines the financial efficiency of private institutions of secondary and higher education in the Iberian Peninsula, during the period 2013-2016. In particular, we study the evolution of 117 Portuguese institutions and 1885 Spanish institutions. To this end, we analyze the evolution of financial statements of each institution regarding its efficiency at three distinct stages: efficiency levels; efficiency patterns; and efficiency determinants. We use a nonparametric method that allows us to investigate changes in the institutions' efficiency standards, namely a model based on the Multidirectional Efficiency Analysis (MEA) in combination with other mathematical techniques, such that principal component analysis, clustering analysis and accumulated effort.

The study allows a parallel between Spain and Portugal, characterizing the behavior of the educational levels after the financial crisis that Europe suffered in mid-2008. Our results indicate which are the levels of education that are more efficient and those that are less efficient, and which improvements could be applied to propose more effective measures according to other European experiences. The results show that Spanish higher education is more efficient than Portuguese one and the same conclusion can be inferred, with a lower degree, for the secondary education, except in 2016. Looking to higher versus secondary education, secondary education presents the biggest resource management inefficiency. Cluster analysis was applied to avoid the disparity of data in Spain. In 2015, Spain cluster 1 presents the greatest difference between the accumulated efforts of the two education levels. In contrast, Spain cluster 2 attains the smallest difference.