Efficiency and economies of scale and specialization in European universities: A directional distance approach

In this paper we investigate economies of scale and specialization of European universities. The proposed approach builds on the notion that university production is a multi-input multi-output process different than standard production activity. The analyses are based on an interesting database which integrates the main European universities data on inputs and outputs with bibliometric data on publications, impact and collaborations. We pursue a cross-country perspective; we include subject mix and introduce a robust modeling of production trade-offs. Finally we test the statistical significance of scale and specialization and find that they both have a significant impact on the efficiency of the Humboldt model. Nevertheless, confirming previous findings, specialization has not a significant impact on the efficiency of the research model. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.