Taxonomy of degree granting private educational institutions as a tool for management

• Main Author: Umali, Jaime O.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1995
• Subjects: Education, Higher; Associations, institutions, etc.—Management; Management by objectives; Universities and colleges > Planning; Higher Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/731
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study investigates the problem of identifying natural groupings of institutions according to their similarities in 47 measures ranging from marketing, operations, personnel, and financial areas. Such a categorization provides insights into possible approaches to educational reform.The data for the study came from the latest national survey of private tertiary level institutions which yielded 237 useable responses representing 45 percent of the population. Fifty three percent of the sample were non-sectarian. Of the sectarian schools, 40.9 percent were Catholic, 4.2 percent were Protestant and 1.7 percent belonged to other sectarian groups. Institutional affiliation was broken down as follows: 43.4 percent CEAP (Catholic Educators Association of the Philippines), 27.4 percent PACU (Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities), 6.3 percent ACSC (Association of Christian Schools and Colleges), 5.5 percent PAPSCU (Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges and Universities), and 0.4 percent PAPTI (Philippine Association of Private Technical Institutes).Factor analysis reduced the 47 variables to 16 principal components. Of the 16 principal components, discriminant analysis isolated 10 discriminating factors, namely: financial sustainability, extent of staff support, percent personnel expenses, full-time to part-time faculty ratio, undergraduate emphasis, math/computer orientation, agricultural orientation, general studies orientation, academic resources, percent capital expenditures. These discriminating factors were significant at less than or equal to the 0.022 level. The 6 homogenous clusters of educational institutions were characterized as Understaffed, Ill-equipped, Aggressive, Differentiated, Inefficiently diversified and Focused. Of the 6 groups the Differentiated and Focused had distinctive and successful competitive strategies reflected both in their high financial sustainability and quality of academic resources. These 2 clusters accounted for 12 percent of total institutions and 10 percent of total enrollment. While the Aggressive institutions which account for 16 percent of the institutions and 7 percent of enrollment maintained quality academic resources, the magnitude of capital expenditures raised doubts concerning financial sustainability. The Understaffed and Ill-equipped institutions constituting 64 percent of institutions and 78 percent of enrolment suffered from low academic and human resources. Finally, the Inefficiently diversified which is 8 percent of the institutions and 5 percent of enrolment suffered from a wide scope of offerings. The serious financial threat that these institutions faced was compounded by weak academic resources. There is serious doubt that the last 3 categories are capable of performing core function.These proposed organizational categorization provides a basis for benchmarking managerial theories, techniques and other organizational theories that educational managers may wish to evaluate or apply. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of certain strategies which educational institutions may wish to explore if they are to compete and survive.