Increasing the effectiveness of the university based on economic modeling

The article is the research paper, with case elements and illustration of specific calculations based on the developed model using the data of a pilot university. Its goal is to form a model for decision support system for the effective use of the institution’s property, investigate the model for specific university’s data and propose recommendations for improving the effectiveness of the university as a whole. The problem of analyzing the budget sufficiency for maintaining the university’s assets and ensuring its current activities is examined in the paper, as well as the opportunity of increasing the efficiency of the use of property. The model is proposed for decision support system for the property of the institution. This model is formed from several submodels: «educational activity», «scientific activity», «living activity», «expenses», «development of the property», and «budget». The model can be used for simulation «what if» analysis of different scenarios of the external and internal parameters (in particular, to estimate the achievement of the strategic goals of the university) and forecasting the results of activities. The methodological basis of the research included general scientific methods, such as analysis and synthesis, modeling and classification, as well as methods of decision theory. Simulation calculations allow us to identify the most significant factors in the impact on the financial result of the university. In particular, for the scenario of high degree of occupancy of premises, the growth in the number of students (admission control indicators) requires the construction of new buildings under current operating conditions and is possible only with the support of the state. The scenario of increasing the efficiency of the use of property makes it possible to achieve the growth of the target indicators of the university without additional investments from the state. For the scenario of a decrease in the contingent of students, the model allows the estimation of the necessary amount of optimization of the specific economic parameters for the formation of a no-deficit budget. The complex covers the educational and scientific activities of the university, the formation of a timetable for students and the occupancy of audiences, maintenance of rooms and hostels, as well as the budget of the university making the developed model new. It is expected that this approach is applicable for different institutions of higher education. The application of the model for the conditions of specific universities will allow their management to set the parameters for the development of the university for the goal-targeted approach for the development. In the future, researchers can develop the model under detailed empirical data, taking into account the variety of internal and external factors. The results of this study van be of practical importance for vice-rectors on economics, administrative affairs, heads of financial and economic departments as well as university executives responsible for taking decisions on strategy development in the context of limited budget taking into account risks.