PhD Thesis at the College of Administration and Economics Explores the Efficiency of Public Spending by the Ministry of Higher Education in Iraqi Universities
On Wednesday, June 25, 2025, the College of Administration and Economics at the University of Fallujah held a defense session for a PhD thesis titled “Measuring the Efficiency of Public Spending by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Iraqi Universities – Selected Universities as a Case Study.”
The thesis, submitted by doctoral candidate Ola Ali Abbas, aimed to assess the efficiency of public spending allocated to higher education in Iraq and to evaluate the actual performance of Iraqi universities by analyzing their inputs and outputs.
The study employed a descriptive-analytical approach, in addition to using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as a scientific tool to measure the relative efficiency of a selected sample of Iraqi universities.
The findings revealed a positive impact of government spending on efficiency levels, provided that the available resources within universities are utilized optimally.
Furthermore, the results indicated that the inputs of Iraqi universities are governed by specific standards set by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, which somewhat limits their ability to control these inputs. However, the universities demonstrated greater capacity to manage their outputs, including the number of graduates at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, the number of affiliated scientific journals and publishing houses, as well as their organization of academic conferences, seminars, and workshops.
The researcher recommended that the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, along with university administrations, conduct further studies to identify the causes behind the low relative efficiency in certain universities and work on addressing these underlying issues. Additionally, she emphasized the importance of analyzing the factors that enabled some universities to achieve full efficiency, so they can serve as practical models for less efficient institutions to follow in pursuit of optimal relative efficiency.
Department of Media and Government Communication
Edited by: Omar Amer Al-Dhahiaba
