Comparing Efficiency of Public Universities among European Countries: Different Incentives Lead to Different Performances

This paper analyses the relationship between the public funding systems of higher education in I taly and the N etherlands and their universities' performances. Empirically, an efficiency analysis on 13 D utch and 58 Italian public universities is conducted. The findings show that the relative efficiency of I talian and D utch universities is strongly influenced by the policy perspective adopted. If the goal is to realise the E uropean goals and minimise resources employed for obtaining a high number of graduates, D utch universities turn out to be more efficient. However, Italian universities are much more efficient if the priority is to minimise the costs for a given level of activity, such as number of students.