There is a general interest in the study of schemes for the measurement of the efficiency of universities, which generates demand but at the same time is controversial because of the complexity of the problem. This problem is associated with the highly combinatorial characteristics that occur when facing the selection of the proper combination of the attributes, namely inputs and outputs. This investigation proposes an approach to measure the institutional efficiency in higher educational institutions combining analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with data envelopment analysis (DEA). Both methods are frequently used independently, on a global level in areas such as: government, business, industry, health care and education. The use of the two methodologies as an evaluation tool is novel and very useful in institutional efficiency studies where results already exist, in order to obtain and confirm important equivalences. The use of the proposed approach is demonstrated using the Queretaro State University -Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro (UAQ) as a case study.