Resumen
This paper examines the relative efficiency of eleven public universities in Tunisia during the period 2009-2013 using a nonparametric approach. A two-stage analysis was utilized to evaluate three efficiency scores in examining trends over time and comparative efficiency analysis was performed on university size.This paper attempts to determine the sources of university efficiency by regressing the efficiency scores against a set of environmental variables. Empirical results indicate that after 2011 efficiency scores for all universities decreased and most technical inefficiencies are related to scale inefficiency rather than managerial inefficiency. Findings also reveal that medium and small universities are more efficient than large universities. TheTobit regression analysis suggests that the location of the university in developed region, a higher share of professors and associate professors, a higher number of women in academic staff and a better quality of student in secondary education improve the efficiency of the university. It was found that the size of the university and the load per teacher have a negative impact on the university?s technical efficiency. Keywords: Higher Education, DEA, Technical Efficiency, Scale Efficiency, Tunisian University