How do the benefits of higher education compare with its costs, and how does this comparison vary across individuals and institutions? These questions are fundamental to quantifying the productivity of the education sector. The studies in Productivity in Higher Education use rich and novel administrative data, modern econometric methods, and careful institutional analysis to explore productivity issues. The authors examine the returns to undergraduate education, differences in costs by major, the productivity of for-profit schools, the productivity of various types of faculty and of outcomes, the effects of online education on the higher education market, and the ways in which the productivity of different institutions responds to market forces. The analyses recognize five key challenges to assessing productivity in higher education: the potential for multiple student outcomes in terms of skills, earnings, invention, and employment; the fact that colleges and universities are “multiproduct” firms that conduct varied activities across many domains; the fact that students select which school to attend based in part on their aptitude; the difficulty of attributing outcomes to individual institutions when students attend more than one; and the possibility that some of the benefits of higher education may arise from the system as a whole rather than from a single institution. The findings and the approaches illustrated can facilitate decision-making processes in higher education.

Higher education is a linchpin of the American economy and society: teaching and research at colleges and universities contribute significantly to the nation's economic activity, both directly and through their impact on future growth; federal and state governments support teaching and research with billions of taxpayers' dollars; and individuals, communities, and the nation gain from the learning and innovation that occur in higher education. In the current environment of increasing tuition and shrinking public funds, a sense of urgency has emerged to better track the performance of colleges and universities in the hope that their costs can be contained without compromising quality or accessibility. Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education presents an analytically well-defined concept of productivity in higher education and recommends empirically valid and operationally practical guidelines for measuring it. In addition to its obvious policy and research value, improved measures of productivity may generate insights that potentially lead to enhanced departmental, institutional, or system educational processes. Improving Measurement of Productivity in Higher Education constructs valid productivity measures to supplement the body of information used to guide resource allocation decisions at the system, state, and national levels and to assist policymakers who must assess investments in higher education against other compelling demands on scarce resources. By portraying the productive process in detail, this report will allow stakeholders to better understand the complexities of-and potential approaches to-measuring institution, system and national-level performance in higher education.

"In 1987, the U.S. Congress established the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program to raise awareness about the importance of quality and performance excellence as a competitive edge. Since 1999, the program has outlined criteria for educational institutions to align their mission, values, goals, processes, and resources into a comprehensive, long-term, systematic improvement effort. The book profiles six unique institutions that have successfully implemented these criteria: the Montfort College of Business at the University of Northern Colorado, National University, New Mexico State University-Carlsbad, Northwest Missouri State University, University of Wisconsin-Stout, and Western Wisconsin Technical College. The University of Wisconsin-Stout was the first higher education institution to win the Baldrige Award in 2001, and has since worked with educational institutions in 39 states and 25 countries that are interested in implementing quality improvement through the application of the Baldrige criteria. This book will appeal to academic administrators at all levels and at all types of institutions who are interested in applying a systematic approach to leadership, quality improvement, and change management within their institutions"--Unedited summary from book cover.

(Published in Cooperation with the Laboratory for Student Success, Temple University)