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By focusing on two dimensions of the digital divide--computer use and computer knowledge, this study explores four research questions: (1) What are the undergraduates doing with the computers they use at colleges? (2) How do undergraduates perform in regard to computer knowledge and skills? (3) With what is the digital divide among college students correlated? (4) What consequences does the digital divide have for student academic performance? In order to answer these research questions, a national survey was conducted. The survey investigated 3083 first-year college students of 12 4-year universities in Taiwan. A total of 2719 of them completed the questionnaires resulting in a response rate of 88.2%. In this study, the digital divide is measured in terms of computer use, which includes a variety of purposes for using computers and academic-related work as a proportion of total computer hours, and computer knowledge. Multiple regressions and a generalized ordered logit, i.e. a partial proportional odds model, are employed. The main findings include the following: (1) Undergraduates use computers not only for fulfilling their academic requirements and searching for information, but also for entertainment. On average, undergraduates spend about 19 h per week using computers, of which 5 h are academic-related. (2) Most undergraduates perform at the middle average level in terms of computer knowledge. (3) No significant differences among correlates in relating to demographic and socioeconomic family background were found in predicting the various purposes in using computers. (4) Students who are female, whose fathers and/or whose mothers are from minorities, whose fathers are blue-collar workers or unemployed, who study in the fields of the humanities and social sciences, and who enter private universities are at a disadvantage in terms of computer skills and knowledge. However, female students, students whose mothers were less educated and students who enroll in private universities are more focused computer users in terms of allocating time to academic-related work. (5) Computer knowledge and devotion to using computers for academic-related work have a moderate effect on college student learning, while the various other uses of computers do not. Of the different kinds of computer knowledge, it is the knowledge of software that helps students to learn the most. [This research was also partially supported by the Ministry of Education Program for Promoting Academic Excellence of Universities.]

This paper proposes a semi parametric smooth coefficient cost model to study the university cost structure where coefficients are an unknown function of the university's overall quality. A local least square method with a kernel weight function is used to estimate the cost function, and a simple statistic for Testing a parametric model of the additive quality versus the semiparametric smooth coefficient model is applied. Empirical results from 56 universities in Taiwan show that, taking quality into account, higher education is subject to diseconomies of scale. In all categories--comprehensive and science/technology and public and private universities--the current university scale in Taiwan is too big to be cost efficient. (JEL I21, H52, 9120), I. INTRODUCTION Institutions of higher education comprise knowledge creation (research) and knowledge dissemination (teaching). Thus, the university's mission is to deliver quality undergraduate and graduate education and to expand the [...]

This paper develops a range directional distance data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to simultaneously deal with the problems of negative data and undesirable outputs in the study of performance measurement with two-stage DEA. We report on the development of this model to handle both positive and negative data in a DEA framework and accommodate the problem of undesirable intermediate outputs in the first stage of operational processes. Unlike previous two-stage DEA models we allow for a nonuniform abatement factor imposing on stage 1' production technology. Such a model is then applied to evaluate Taiwanese bank efficiencies both at the operational stage and profitability stage in banking activities based on a data set consisting of 35 domestic banks in Taiwan in the period 2007. The results indicate that, by the range directional two-stage data envelopment analysis model, the operational efficiency was smaller than the profitability efficiency. Many banks generated too many performing loans in which independent banks should reduce more performing loans than financial holding company subsidiary banks. Both the ratio of investments to loans and the ratio of nonperforming loans to performing loans did not have significant contributions to the efficiency. This paper is able to provide information for bank operators and researchers on the managerial and strategic implications of how negative data and undesirable outputs affect efficiency and how to measure efficiency appropriately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]