How does a situation of economic crisis influence the cost efficiency of public universities? A convergence analysis in the Spanish University System (2008-2019)

• Fernández-Santos, Yolanda ^[1] ; Martínez-Campillo, Almudena ^[1] ; Sierra-Fernández, María-Pilar ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de León

     Universidad de León

     León, España

     
• Localización: Revista de contabilidad = Spanish accounting review: [RC-SAR], ISSN 1138-4891, Vol. 28, Nº 2, 2025, págs. 282-295
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.6018/rcsar.536531
• Títulos paralelos:
  • ¿Cómo influye una situación de crisis económica en la eficiencia en costes de las universidades públicas? Un análisis de convergencia en el Sistema Universitario Español (2008-2019)
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    Cada vez se exige más que, a la hora de desarrollar las funciones docente, investigadora y social, los gestores de las universidades públicas administren los recursos de una manera eficaz y eficiente para conseguir recortar los gastos, sin eliminar servicios ni perjudicar la calidad. En este marco, los dos objetivos del trabajo son: primero, estimar la eficiencia en costes en el Sistema Universitario Público Español (SUPE) durante el periodo 2008-2019, comparando la situación durante y tras la crisis económico-financiera global del 2008; y, segundo, estudiar la convergencia de la eficiencia en costes de las universidades –a lo largo de dichos periodos, dentro del sector y hacia las mejores prácticas–, así como su posible dependencia de la situación de crisis. Para ello se aplica, por un lado, un Análisis Envolvente de Datos (DEA) de panel de datos condicional y, por otro lado, diferentes modelos de regresión para determinar las convergencias ,  y . Nuestros hallazgos muestran una mejora de la eficiencia en costes media entre 2008 y 2019, poniendo de manifiesto una reducción de los gastos de las universidades para lograr un nivel dado de outputs. Además, a lo largo de ese periodo, las instituciones que en 2008 gestionaron peor sus fondos mejoraron más su eficiencia en costes que las que inicialmente se comportaron mejor, disminuyendo también la dispersión dentro del SUPE al final del mismo. También se produjo una intensa convergencia hacia las mejores prácticas del sector. Cuando se distingue entre sub-periodos, frente a la etapa de crisis (2008-2013), las universidades públicas españolas, por término medio, tomaron mejores decisiones de reducción de costes a la hora de prestar sus servicios durante el sub-periodo postcrisis (2014-2019), produciéndose, además, un mayor acercamiento institucional tanto a lo largo del tiempo como hacia la media del sector y las mejores prácticas.

  • English

    Managers of public universities are increasingly required to manage resources effectively and efficiently when carrying out core university functions, in order to achieve cost cuts without eliminating services or compromising quality. In this context, the two objectives of this work are: first, to evaluate cost (in)efficiency in the Spanish Public University System during the period 2008-2020, comparing the situation during and after the global economic crisis of 2008; and, second, to study the convergence of the cost efficiency of universities –throughout these periods, within the sector and towards best practices– as well as its possible dependence on the crisis situation. To achieve these objectives, on the one hand, the conditional panel data Data Envelopment Analysis model is applied and, on the other, different regression models are used to determine the convergences β, σ and λ. Our findings show an improvement in average cost efficiency between 2008 and 2019, revealing a reduction in university costs to achieve a given level of outputs. In that period, furthermore, the universities that initially managed their funds worse improved their cost efficiency more than those that initially behaved better, also reducing inequality between them at the end of the period. There was also intense convergence towards the best practice frontier. When distinguishing between sub-periods, compared to the crisis stage (2008-2013), Spanish public universities, on average, made better cost reduction decisions when providing their services during the post-crisis period (2014- 2019), also producing greater institutional convergence both over time and towards the sector average and best practices.

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