Edukacja 2014, 5(130), 57–69 An interdisciplinary approach ISSN 0239-6858 Teaching or research? An analysis of teaching and research efficiency in Polish public universities Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdańsk University of Technology * he article presents an eiciency evaluation for teaching and research in Polish institutions of higher edu- cation. hirty one public universities in Poland were studied using the nonparametric DEA method from 2001 to 2008. Teaching outcomes were evaluated by the numbers of full-time and part-time graduates, while research activities were assessed by number of publications, citations and value of research grants. he scores for teaching and research eiciency were negatively correlated, which could indicate a trade-of between teaching and research activities. Keywords: economics of education, eiciency, DEA, public higher education institutions. M otivation for this study on the efficien- cy of Polish higher education institu- tions (HEIs) arose from work on the recent reform of the higher education sector. The re- form came into effect in October 2011 and was largely intended, according to its authors, to contribute to improved efficiency of higher education institutions through better exploi- tation of the research and teaching potential of institutions (MNiSW, 2012). In very general terms, efficiency in eco- nomics solves the problem of how to make the best use of existing resources (Samuelson and Nordhaus, 2002). Leja (2003) defined ef- ficiency of institutions of higher education, adopting the teleological approach, in which efficiency assessment checks that a given institution performs the tasks it was estab- lished for. The purpose of this study is to examine the efficiency of 31 Polish public HEIs over the period 2001–2008. Taking into ac- count the double mission of HEIs, the analysis concentrates on the efficiency assessment of teaching and scientific research. Activity of in- stitutions on their “third mission”, that is co- operation with the local community and business, is not analysed due to serious dif- ficulties in measuring the results of those ef- forts (c.f. Leja, 2011). The aim of this article is not only to determine the teaching and re- search efficiency in higher education, but also to investigate any relationship between these two activities: evidence of a potential trade- -off between teaching and research. The article reports results of the project “Efficiency of re- search activities of public higher education institutions in Poland”, carried out by the Faculty of Management and Economics of Gdańsk University of Technology, financed by the MNiSW/NCN from budget funds dedicated to sci- ence in 2010-2012, agreement no. 3209/B/H03/2010/39. This article was first published in Polish in Edukacja, 122(2) 2013. * Address: Wydział Zarządzania i Ekonomii, Politechnika Gdańska. E-mail: jwo@zie.pg.gda.pl