Competition and efficiency: overseas students and technical efficiency in Australian and New Zealand universities

In this paper the impact of productivity and efficiency of Australian and New Zealand universities of exposure to international markets is examined using Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). The analysis finds that there is an important link between competition in the market for overseas students that a university in Australia is exposed to and the level of technical efficiency at which they operate. What is true at the university level is also true at the level of business faculties. In the New Zealand case no definite conclusion on this issue can be made.