Banca de DEFESA: DANIEL DA SILVA MELLO

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : DANIEL DA SILVA MELLO
DATE: 27/02/2026
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: Plataforma TEAMS: https://encurtador.com.br/npXu
TITLE:

EFFICIENCY OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN BRAZIL: A DEA Analysis on Resource Allocation.

KEY WORDS:

 

Higher Education. Efficiency. DEA. FIES. Malmquist Index. Public Policy.

PAGES: 171
BIG AREA: Ciências Sociais Aplicadas
AREA: Administração
SUBÁREA: Ciências Contábeis
SUMMARY:

MELLO, Daniel da Silva. EFFICIENCY OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN
BRAZIL: A DEA Analysis on Resource Allocation. 2025. 171f. Dissertation (Master’s
degree in Accounting Sciences) – University of Brasília, Brasília, 2025.
This study aimed to analyze the extent to which indirect financing through the Student
Financing Fund (FIES) affects the operational efficiency of Brazilian Higher Education
Institutions (HEIs), in comparison with direct public investment in federal universities.
The research sought to assess the adequacy of public resource allocation in higher
education under two distinct financing strategies — direct public provision and student
financing — considering indicators of access, retention, completion, and educational
quality.
The investigation was conducted using a multi-stage Data Envelopment Analysis
(DEA) approach, under the assumption of variable returns to scale and output
orientation, complemented by the bootstrap procedure and the Malmquist Productivity
Index, allowing the distinction between managerial efficiency effects (catch-up) and
technological change effects (frontier-shift). Efficiency scores were subsequently
related to environmental and institutional variables — such as geographic location,
institutional age, regional GDP, population density, and participation in FIES — through
supervised machine learning techniques capable of capturing nonlinear relationships
and heterogeneity among HEIs.
The sample covered the period from 2019 to 2023, drawing on data from the Higher
Education Census, the General Course Index (IGC), and socioeconomic indicators
provided by IBGE. Inputs included faculty, technical staff, enrollments, and institutional
resources, while outputs comprised graduates and academic performance indicators.
The results indicated that public HEIs exhibited greater stability and consistency in
efficiency levels, whereas private HEIs financed through FIES showed more volatile
behavior, alternating significant efficiency gains with losses arising from scale and
sustainability constraints. Regional and structural factors were also found to exert a
significant influence on the relative performance of institutions.
It was concluded that, although FIES has contributed to expanding access to higher
education, its relative efficiency remains lower than that of public HEIs, suggesting that
indirect financing does not necessarily translate into a more effective use of public
resources. The findings highlight the importance of education policies oriented toward
balance, sustainability, and equity in the allocation of resources between public and
private higher education modalities.

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Interno - 2478208 - ABIMAEL DE JESUS BARROS COSTA
Externa à Instituição - CARLA MACEDO VELLOSO DOS SANTOS - UFRJ
Presidente - 2288460 - CARLOS ROSANO PENA
Interno - 2571490 - MARCELO DRIEMEYER WILBERT