The Impacts of Government Policies on the Efficiency of Australian Universities: A Multi-Period Data Envelopment Analysis

This paper presents an investigation of the impacts of government policies on the efficiency of Australian universities in 2000 - 2005 using multi-period data envelopment analysis. It shows that the overall efficiency of Australian universities maintains at a high level. Furthermore, the investigation reveals that there is a positive relationship between the improvements in teaching efficiency of Australian universities and the introduction of a major government funding policy related to the university teaching performance. A group-based multi-period data envelopment analysis conducted on the performance of universities shows that teaching oriented universities and so-called innovative universities react positively more to the new funding policies than traditionally research intensive universities do. Such findings provide useful insights for the government and universities on how to improve their efficiency in relation to the formulation and development of specific strategies and policies.