A COST INDIRECT EVALUATION OF PRODUCTIVITY CHANGE IN UK UNIVERSITIES

The study provides an empirical analysis of productivity change in pub licly-funded UK universities, against a background of government polic y specifically designed to enhance the productive efficiency of univer sities in the provision of teaching and research. The nonparametric an alysis employs a cost indirect approach to measuring productivity chan ge, taking explicit account of the quality of research output and deco mposing productivity change into technical change and efficiency chang e. The latter is also decomposed into changes in pure technical effici ency, scale efficiency and output congestion. Changes in size efficien cy are also computed. On average, productivity declined by 4% over 198 9-92, mainly as a result of regressive technical change. Evidence of b iased technological change was found, with the frontier shifting out i n favour of the teaching outputs and in relative to the research outpu t.