An integrated analysis of quality and productivity growth in China’s and Taiwan’s higher education institutions

The main objective of this study is to measure the productivity growth of universities across the Taiwan Strait. This study uses the global metafrontier Malmquist framework and considers university quality to estimate productivity changes in higher education institutions (HEIs) on both sides of the strait during the period between 2008 and 2014. The results show that China’s HEIs enjoyed productivity growth of 1.24% per year. Technical progress contributed the most to this growth during the study period because public universities in China received significant funding and strong support from the government to improve teaching quality, thus achieving significant technical progress. Similar observations are found for Taiwan’s public universities. These universities, on average, reflect good performance in both the teaching and the research components. However, private HEIs in Taiwan are less productive relative to their counterparts. It is not surprising that the regression in productivity among private HEIs is mainly the result of lower student enrollment, an insufficient number of publications, and low research funding. As a result, Taiwan’s HEIs on average experienced a 0.10% decline in productivity per year during the study period. Private HEIs in Taiwan should pay greater attention to the quality of their universities to attract more local and international students. An increase in the quality of a university appears to not only improve technical efficiency but also increase productivity.