On the performance of universities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany: Government’s redistribution of funds judged using DEA efficiency measures

In Fandel and Gal (2001) [Fandel, G., Gal, T., 2001. Redistribution of funds for teaching and research among universities: The case of North Rhine-Westphalia, European Journal of Operational Research 130, 111–120] a solution for a real process of redistributing funds for teaching and research among the universities in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany according to specific criteria was presented. The solution was based on aggregated proportional data and was determined by a negotiation process. Now that the absolute data with respect to the different subject areas of the universities are available, it is studied, to which extent the results of the redistribution can be justified by the relative efficiency measures using data envelopment analysis. Moreover, the inefficiencies or slacks, respectively, in the usage of personnel give reasons to reallocate the staff among the universities or to reduce it correspondingly.