The article reports on the claim by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) as of April 2021 that the British government failed to communicate its strategy and plans to reform adult education and skills in its White Paper. Topics include the claim by the Nuffield Foundation's Josh Hillman on the expected increased demand for post-18 education and training after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the comment by Association of Colleges' David Hughes on the IFS findings.
Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has often been used to evaluate efficiency in the context of higher education institutions. Yet there are numerous alternative non-parametric measures of efficiency available. This paper compares efficiency scores obtained for institutions of higher education in England, 2013–2014, using three different methods: the original Charnes et al. method and two slacks-based methods (SBM-Min and SBM-Max) developed by Tone. The findings suggest that results are highly sensitive to methodology chosen. Hence caution is required in applying the results in any policy context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]