University efficiency evaluation based on educational production functions

This paper analyses the educational production function (EPF), which is one of the main economic instruments for the analysis of university activities. This instrument describes the relationship between university performance and amount of available resources and forms the basis for calculating efficiency scores. In this paper we present the results of Russian universities’ efficiency analysis, as well as the results of cluster analysis based on university efficiency and performance scores. The results of our analysis suggest that efficiency is a key characteristic of a university’s activity and should be considered as an important indicator for elaborating public policies in higher education together with making decisions when distributing resources among educational organizations.