Measuring Italian university efficiency: a non-parametric approach

This work analyses the performance of Italian universities taking into account technical efficiency. The study provides an assessment of levels of technical efficiency taking into account also environmental factors. We focus on the relationship between levels of technical efficiency and university students dropouts. The efficiency analysis, using Data Envelopment Analysis, w.r.t. the 2009/10 academic year, shows that universities belonging to the private sector have higher efficiency scores than public owned universities. Moreover, a difference arises on a geographical basis where centre-northern universities are generally more efficient than southern ones.