PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT THROUGH BALANCE SCORECARD IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A STUDY ON HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY IN UAE

Abstract

In global scenario education sector has become highly competitive as there are no barriers and commercial bounds. In view of this, globally, higher education institutions are led by competitive market stimulus, commercial and economical necessities. There is large dependency on outside resources along with initiatives to attract students in the competitive market and in such scenarios strategic management and performance measurement plays a vital role. If performance measurement is not up to the mark there is difficulty in survival of educational institutions. In this context Balance Score Card (BSC) helps institutions in making strategic analysis and planning which in turn increase adaptability with environment, customer satisfaction and responsiveness. Need for such measure arises due to globalization and role of university in social and economic development of societies. Thus aim of the study is to identify the challenges and benefits of BSC implementation in higher education. This research is based on a study in Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) from United Arab Emirates (UAE) Objectives of the study are to (i) analyze four major perspectives of BSC implementation (internal processes data analysis, customer perspective, learning and growth perspective and financial perspective), (ii) Identify advantages and challenges faced by BSC adoption and (iii) Recommend best strategies on identified challenges and issues. Questionnaire includes statements related to four perspectives of BSC and demographic information of sample population. A survey questionnaire with closed ended questions was distributed to 261 employees of HCT (Abu Dhabi, Dubai & Al Ain regions) to indicate their level of opinion (using a 5 point Likert scale). The collected data is analyzed using descriptive statistical tools mostly mean and standard deviation that helped research to identify effectiveness of implementation in chosen four perspectives and challenges faced in implementation process. Findings indicate that BSC has raised challenges on implementation such as lack of effective training, communication and support of top management. Strategies to overcome suggested, top management, to initiate appropriate training, awareness and communication system and support employees which would result in successful implementation of BSC.