A Pro-performance appraisal system for the university

Abstract

Due to economic pressures and declining birth rates, universities in Taiwan are seeking ways to evaluate and improve operational performance to acquire a competitive advantage to attract more students. However, current performance evaluation models have been criticized for two reasons. First, the measurement criteria currently used are not completely in accordance with the characteristics of different university types, research-intensive university, teaching-intensive university, and professional-intensive university. Second, the models assume independence of measured criteria. Nonetheless, in the real world, such measured criteria are seldom independent. To address these issues, we first reviewed the literature and interviewed Taiwanese higher education experts to integrate critical measurement criteria and develop an original performance appraisal system (OPAS). Next, we adapted a decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to present complex interdependent relationships and to construct a relation structure among measurement criteria for performance appraisal. A fuzzy analytic network process (FANP) was generated to address the dependence and feedback among each of the measurement criteria, Finally, we proposed a Pro-performance appraisal system (PPAS). This study offers a Pro-performance appraisal system (PPAS) to aid in future performance appraisals and improvements for all three university types. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.