Production and cost functions for higher education in Cameroon: the case of the former university of Yaounde

This study sets out to assess the internal efficiency of higher education in Cameroon with particular reference to the former University of Yaounde. To do this, educational production and cost functions have been estimated. They try to identify the critical inputs which impinge on the production of higher education, and to determine the relative importance· of these inputs in influencing the academic performance· of students. We also attempt to determine the impact of the inputs on expenditure per student, and the optimum size of the institution. The cointegration methodology using the ordinary least squares regression technique is applied on time series data from 1971ll2 to 1991/92. Linear and log-linear functional forms are used to estimate our relationships. Analyses are carried out first for the three faculties of the former ' University of Yaounde combined, and then, for each of the faculties separately, so as not to conceal variations within the faculties. The following results are obtained. School environmental variables explain a greater proportion of the variation in student performance. Government expenditure per student, the student-teacher ratio, the number of teaching staff, and the number of students enrolled have a significant influence on the academic achievement of students. The relative importance of the inputs is not the same in the different faculties, but the number of academic staff appear to be the most effective school input. The number of students receiving scholarships has a negative effect on performance in all the faculties, despite being the most important item in total university expenditure. Given· that expenditure per student is an aggregate of many expenditure variables, the negative relationship with · performance found in some faculties does not necessarily mean the ineffectiveness of increased government spending on higher education, but a poor allocation of expenses on the different items which comprise it - an element of efficiency. The optimum size of enrolment in the faculties was found to be 11752, 7090, 8358, and 28334 in the FDSE, FLSH, FS and all the faculties combined, respectively. These fell · below the maximum enrolments recorded by the 1991 /92 academic year (the end of our study period), which was 15554, 8781, 9171, and 33506, respectively. This implied that all the faculties were experiencing diseconomies of scale There was therefore need for restricting enrolment or decentralisation of the former University of Yaounde if efficiency was to be improved.