Which areas of expenditure do you consider worthy of

Question

The following data relates to the student numbers (Table 1) and financial data (Table 2) of four universities.

factors		H	L	s	T
1.00	Full-time	2,437	4,517	3,908	3,961
0.90	Sandwich	2,216	1,306	3,975	3,731
0.40	Part-time (day  and evening)	951	1,385	1,412	1,050
0.20	Evening  only	16	403	141	147
		5,620	7,611	9,436	8,889

Table 1 Full-time equivalent (FTE) student numbers Conversion

H = Halifax University; L = Leek University; S = Southsea University; T = Thorne University.

Table  2    Summary:  Actual  expenditure  1987-1988  (£'000)

Expenditure heading	H	L	s	T
Academic  staff	10,062	12,550	15,149	14,710
Professional  and other
academic  support staff	3,233	3,557	5,822	4,833
Premises	3,139	2,756	4,079	4,124
Supplies  and services	1,749	1,279	2,381	2,703
Transport	278	312	565	647
Establishment expenses	1,027	1,166	1,104	1,120
Agency services	38		182	(33)
Miscellaneous expenses	325	334	719	483
	19,851	21,954	30,001	28,587

Miscellaneous income Catering  services (net deficit)	46	228	315	200
Residences (net deficit) Debt charges  and other	245	132	631	183
provisions Redundancy  and other	2,949	1,893	3,349	2,656
premature retirement
compensation	222	729	642	508
Total expenditure	22,986	24,604	34,608	31,684

(a) Using the data provided above, which university do you consider to be the most efficient?

(b) Which areas of expenditure do you consider worthy of investigation for each one?

(c) What factors do you consider would make comparisons between such institutions difficult or meaningless?