Efficiency in Anadolu University open education system associate programs: A research based on slack-based measure data envelopment model with undesirable outputs

Increasing social demand for education, on the other hand, limited time, physical and financial opportunities caused the expansion of the education system and emergence of new alternatives. One of these alternatives is open education that emphasizes the philosophy of sharing the information and materials used in learning and teaching freely and openly, and one is distance education that offers a formal (structured) form of education blended with information systems and the internet. This study was carried out to determine the activities of associate degree programs in Anadolu University Open Education System in the fall and spring semesters of 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019 academic years. Secondly, it is aimed to investigate other factors that play a role in the efficiency of associate degree programs and to determine programs with similar performance according to these variables. Within the scope of the study, composed of the efficiency model together with the variables to be used in evaluating the activities of the Open Education System associate degree programs and explanatory variables that are thought to play a role on the efficiency are included. Anadolu University Open Education System associate degree programs are ranked according to their effeciency values, by the Slack-Based Measure Data Envelopment Analysis. Other variables that played a role in the efficiency were put forward in line with the assumptions by the Panel Tobit Model, and programs with similar efficiency performance were determined by Hierarchical Cluster Analysis.