Generalized modified principal components analysis of Russian universities competitiveness

TL;DR

This paper introduces a generalized modified principal component analysis method to evaluate and rank Russian universities' competitiveness, revealing key influencing factors and aiding policy assessment.

Contribution

It develops a novel modification of principal component analysis for constructing an aggregate university performance index.

Findings

Identifies factors influencing university competitiveness.

Provides an objective ranking of Russian universities.

Supports policy evaluation in higher education.

Abstract

The article is devoted to the competitiveness analysis of Russian institutions of higher education in international and local markets. The methodology of research is based on generalized modified principal component analysis. Principal components analysis has proven its efficiency in business performance assessment. We apply a modification of this methodology to construction of an aggregate index of university performance. The whole set of principal components with weighting coefficients equal to the proportions of the corresponding explained variance are utilized as an aggregate measure of various aspects of higher education. This methodology allows to reveal the factors which exert positive or negative influence on university competitiveness. We construct a kind of objective ranking of universities in order to estimate the current situation and prospects of higher education in Russia. It is applicable for evaluation of public policy in higher education, which, by inertia, aims to promote competition rather than cooperation among universities.