A System Dynamics Model for Determining Educational Capacity of Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

Managing university academic resources is a complex administrative problem. Typically, the admission capacity for a degree program is decided based on the availability of lecturers, total enrolled students, and the available facilities in the university. The common formula used is the lecturer to student ratio. But often, the decision is either based on short term requirements which lacks the bird eye's view on the whole resource elements and their synergetic relations. Imperative actions should be taken by universities towards balancing the educational capacity based on the universities' main key performance index of academic activities. Accordingly, universities should efficiently manage their academic resources systematically and strategically. This paper studies the determining factors that form the basis of a decision support system for meeting the supply and demand of an academic program, which directly contributes to efficient resource management. A system dynamics (SD) model is constructed for this purpose.

A system dynamic model of student enrolment at the private higher education sector in Syria

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A Nonlinear Goal Programming Model for University Admission Capacity Planning with Modified Differential Evolution Algorithm

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Managing Admission in Saudi Universities: A System Approach

“…Emphasising a particular measurement of quality through key performance indicators (KPI), Dahlan and Yahaya (2010) explore the factors that form the basis of a DSS for meeting the supply and demand of an academic program, which directly caters for efficient resource management, thus contributing to a system dynamics (SD) model [10].Dahlan and Yahaya note that managing academic resources is a multifaceted administrative issue, arguing that the admission capacity for a degree program is determined based on the number of lecturers, total enrolled students, and facilities in the university. The formula used is the lecturer-to-student ratio.…”