AN EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF ENGINEERING DEPARTMENTS IN A TURKISH UNIVERSITY

Abstract

In educational institutions, performance efficiency of the departments should be reviewed within the context of continuous development and improvement activities. An effective performance evaluation system enables the use of resources in the most effective manner. One indication representing the development level of a country is the scientific knowledge. Engineering departments play a critical role in increasing the scientific knowledge of a country. So, in this study, a Multiple-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach is proposed for the performance evaluation of the engineering departments in a Turkish University. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to determine the relative criteria weights and The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is applied to prioritize and rank those departments. The performance criteria considered in this study are student ratio (undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral student), research publications, number of master theses and doctoral theses completed, academic staff, total achievement scores and so on. The results obtained from this study, Decision Makers could see the performance efficiency of the engineering departments in an easier way and taking appropriate measures will provide continuous improvement within the scope of the development of this department.