1 DEA Metafrontier Analysis on Technical Efficiency Differences of National Universities in Thailand Anupong Wongchai Department of Tropical Agriculture and International Cooperation National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan R.O.C add.a@hotmail.com Wen‐Bin Liu Department of Tropical Agriculture and International Cooperation National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan R.O.C kingmango1994@gmail.com Prof. Dr. Ke‐Chung Peng Department of Agribusiness Management National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan R.O.C kchung@mail.npust.edu.tw ABSTRACT Since the national university in Thailand has a variety of academic institutes located throughout the country, resulting in technical efficiency differences among the regions. Therefore, this study aims to measure the regional differences in technical efficiency of the 77 national universities. As a metafrontier model is able to calculate the comparable technical efficiencies for firms operating under different technologies, the concept of metafrontier estimated by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was adopted to be the methodology. The frontiers were divided into five regions; Bangkok, central, north, northeast, and south. Besides, this study used the cross‐section data of 2011 recorded from Office of the Higher Education Commission in Thailand. Firstly, an analytical framework necessary for the definition of a metafrontier function was described. Then, the property of the metafrontier function estimated by non‐parametric DEA was exclusively explained in this research. Finally, the empirical results of the DEA metafrontier were presented and discussed. Keywords: Cross‐section data, DEA metafrontier, regional differences, technical efficiency, Thai national universities. 1. INTRODUCTION Higher education in Thailand has been initially established by king Rama V, Phra Bat Somdet Phra Poramintharamaha Chulalongkorn Phra Chunla Chom Klao Chao Yu Hua, since 1897. At that time, the fifth monach of Siam under the House of Chakri established the school of laws, the school of medicines, the school of agriculture, and the school of military, but those could not completely offer the higher education. Currently, the higher education in Thailand is definitely able to provide three levels of degree; bachelor degree, master degree, and philosophy degree, for undergraduate and graduate students. Office of the Higher Education Commission is the organization that directly regards with all universities and colleges in Thailand. The university in Thailand is generally separated into two groups. The first group is national universities and the latter is private universities. The national universities include four academic groups. There are autonomous universities, Rajabhat universities, Rajamagala universities, and colleges and institutes. In 2012, there are approximately 140 universities, including national and private universities, established throughout the country (Ramkhamhaeng University Library, 2011). Those universities intensively offer social science and science studies to international students and local students. In general, the national universities are more difficult to gain admission than the private universities. A student who wants to study higher education in the famous