Management of Croatian Public Higher Education Institutions Based on Performance Measurement

Abstract

To responsibly manage higher education institutions' business, public managers need to dispose of budget funds rationally. Responsible management needs to have quality and timely information based on measuring and monitoring performance. This paper has two main aims. The first aim is to analyze the importance of measuring higher education performance in general and provide an overview of higher education performance indicators in selected countries. Through literature review, we analyzed performance measurement in higher education of Australia, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Finland, Romania, and Poland. Through a review of the literature, it is concluded that performance measurement exists in higher education and is used for management purposes in the observed countries. The second aim is to investigate whether the management of the public higher education institutions in Croatia is based on performance measurement results. To meet this goal, an empirical study was conducted. Research conducted in the Croatian public higher education has also shown a certain level of awareness of the need to measure performance and use measurement results in management processes.