Best practice in performance evaluation of Thai public universities

The primary purpose of this study is to develop an excellent university performance measurement model (EUP) by using the value for money approach. This study provides information to help assess Thai public university performance in the dimensions of (1) Revenue raising capacity, (2) University missions, (3) Entrepreneurship in education and (4) Internationalisation. At present no university performance measurement models successfully provide sufficient data to measure the amalgamation of the four performance dimensions. Mixed methods research, a combination of quantitative and qualitative studies, is used in this study. In the quantitative study, four first-order hypothesised models are postulated and statistically tested using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to investigate relations between sets of observed indicator variables and factors of each performance dimension. In the qualitative study, content analysis is used in analysing interview data. The major findings of the two methods confirm that the four performance dimensions can be used to assess Thai public university performance. In addition, non-financial and financial data are identified and considered as key performance indicators to assess each performance dimension. The development of the EUP model focuses on the use of the identified factors, non-financial and financial data in measuring the four dimensions of Thai public university performance. A value for money approach is chosen to help construct the EUP model measures of performance in terms of economy, efficiency, efficiency and quality. Notably, the term quality is added into the traditional concept of value for money. The aim is to give a broader view of assessing university performance. The assessment of each performance dimension is developed based on (1) Economy in utilisation -- spending less for the same or more output, and assessing revenue raising performance in the sense of economy in acquisition (2) Efficiency -- resource usage to maximise outputs at minimum total cost, (3) Effectiveness -- accomplishment of university outputs and (4) Quality -- satisfaction of students, employees and other people involved with university services. This study makes several contributions to the existing body of university performance measurement knowledge. The study provides implications to be used in terms of (1) Thai pubic university performance management and (2) performance assessment practice. It is recommended that the EUP model should be used for the internal value for money auditing in order to help universities to self-assess their performance, seek ways to improve their excellence and provide accountability to the public. A key success of the implementation of the EUP model is to establish centres for excellence in university performance and centres for value for money auditing at both university and faculty levels.