The five keys to improving efficiency and effectiveness

A new publication from LSIS explores what makes some colleges more efficient and effective than others – and what lessons can be learnt from them.

Improving efficiency and effectiveness: A Guide for Colleges and Providers examines why six colleges: Chelmsford College, City of Sunderland College, Mid-Cheshire College, Newcastle-under-Lyme College, North East Surrey College of Technology (Nescot) and Truro and Penwith College, have consistently achieved strong financial health and high levels of success despite the current economic climate.

The document highlights five key performance indicators (KPIs) which are used by all six of these colleges to define, measure and monitor progress towards organisational goals. It was found that the KPIs have the largest impact on the overall efficiency and effectiveness on a college; these core KPIs are:
• Academic staff utilisation
• Curriculum efficiency
• Group size
• Support costs as a percentage of income
• Success rates by course

The document was written with senior managers, principals, chief executives, managing directors, and governors in mind. It attempts to explore what sits behind these results to assist other colleges in achieving a high level of efficiency and effectiveness.

The six colleges highlighted in Improving efficiency and effectiveness were chosen for the report using criteria that included: financial health classed as either good or outstanding; the overall 2009/10 success rate for the college exceeds 80%; and the college’s Ofsted report is either good or outstanding.
Peter Munday, Head of Governance and Strategic Development at LSIS wrote the foreword to the report. He said: “What makes one college or provider perform better than another one is a question that many of us have strived to answer. To start to put an answer together we needed to consider what we meant by effectiveness and then look at what are the features of some of the best providers.

“In the publication we don’t claim to have a definitive answer to this question, but I do think through the research and case studies we are able to identify some measures of effectiveness and efficiency, the common features of these ‘successful’ colleges, and some elements of how they went about achieving this.”