臺灣高等教育院校之學校品質、經營效率與最適規模分析

作者:傅祖壇(東吳大學經濟系教授)

卷期：56卷第3期
日期：2011年9月
頁碼：181-213
DOI：10.3966/2073753X2011095603007

摘要：

近年來由於少子化及高等教育之過度擴充，臺灣有許多家高等教育院校正面臨嚴重的招生不足及財務困難之問題。教育主管當局亦針對這些學校要求採取減招或系所關閉，或與他校合併之鼓勵措施。為提供較客觀數據作為調整時之參考，高等教育院校之經營效率及最適規模探討已為當前高教必要且重要之研究課題。本研究利用平均成本邊界函數法衡量高等教育院校之成本效率，並探究在考慮學校品質差異性下之最適經營規模。研究結果顯示，最適規模會與學校品質成正比。而就目前之平均學校品質水準而言，約有60%之大學及技職院校之規模未達或超過最適規模水準，應設法擴大或降低這些學校之經營規模，而本文之實證結果當可作為這些學校規模調整之參考。此外，研究亦發現：經營效率改善所獲致之成本節省，將超過調整規模所能產生之成本效益。是故，學校在調整規模之同時，更應重視成本效率之提升。

關鍵詞：成本效率、高等教育、規模經濟、學校品質

《詳全文》

School Quality, Operational Efficiency, and Optimal Size: An Analysis of Higher Education Institutions in Taiwan

Author: Tsu-Tan Fu(Department of Economics, Soochow University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 56, No. 3
Date：September 2011
Pages：181-213
DOI：10.3966/2073753X2011095603007

Abstract：

As a result of low birth rates and over-expansion during past decades, a number of higher education institutions in Taiwan are currently confronted by problems of low enrollment rates and financial distress. The educational authority in Taiwan has also requested that these schools reduce their study body, shut down problematic departments, or consolidate with other institutions. An investigation of the efficiency and optimal size of schools is a vital research issue in contemporary higher education of Taiwan to provide objective information for resource reallocation to schools. This study employs the stochastic unit cost frontier to measure the cost efficiency of higher education institutions, and to investigate their optimal size by considering the heterogeneous school quality. The empirical results reveal a positive correlation between the optimal size of a school and school quality. We found that approximately 60 % of schools are identified as either over- or under-sized, and therefore, must adjust the number of students. The results also indicate that the cost reduction resulting from efficiency improvement will be higher than that from size adjustment. Therefore, managers of schools should focus specifically on efficiency improvement while considering the size adjustment.

Keywords：cost efficiency, higher education, economy of size, school quality