Guide to performance indicators in higher education
Efficiency
Projected outcomes can be used to measure the 'efficiency' of an HEI. If all of an HEI’s students qualify within the expected time (in four years for a four-year full-time course, for example) the institution would be 100 per cent efficient. However, some students may repeat a year for various reasons and will take longer to complete. Others will drop out, and some may transfer to other institutions or other courses. Most of these patterns will cause the efficiency figure to drop.
The efficiency of an institution is defined as the ratio of the time students should ideally take to obtain a qualification, to the time they are projected to take on average (taking account of repeat years and drop-outs).
Findings
Nearly all institutions show an efficiency of over 75 per cent.
Last updated 11 December 2003