Missing measures in university education

Edward Tsang 2012.07.31

The main function of a university is teaching and research. All other activities are peripheral. One measure for a university's efficiency is the proportion of time and money that it spends directly on teaching and research activities. I have yet to see such measures in practice.

Main functions of a university

The main function of a university is teaching and research. All other activities are peripheral and should be kept to minimal.

To measure the efficiency of a university, one should measure the amount of time spent on direct activities in teaching and research. Teaching activities include preparation and giving lectures, tutorials, classes and labs, marking, supervising students, etc. Research activities include collecting information, thinking, reading and writing.

Any activities spent on performance measures is peripheral. Any activities spent on quality control is peripheral. Quality control is useful, but it is important to realize that if one spend 10 hours to measure the quality of 1 hour's production, then the quality control is damaging productivity.

Missing measures

One should also measure the amount of money incurred in teaching and research in a university, in proportion to the total expenses spent by a university. If a university is spending 25% of its expenses on administrative staff, then it is adding one third of its real cost to peripherals.

Universities are measured in many ways. I'm surprised that this is not one of the measures used. Far too much effort is wasted in non-essential functions in universities today.

Supportive activities

One may argue that administrative staff support teaching and research. Sometimes that is the case. But the definition of "support" is vague. Sometimes what the administrators believe to be supportive may in fact be obstructive. Secretarial support such as filling in forms and making appointments for students is supportive. Measuring performance of academics could be destructive.

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