Determination of the Reference Points for Control Variables of the University Subsystems by means of Possibility Distribution Function Estimation: Performance of Disciplinary Committees - A Case Study

Coordinative functioning of similar organizations in universities around the country is an important factor of their effectiveness. To have a sensible judgment and supervisory on their activities, there should be a systematic evaluation and comparison on the outputs. In fact, supervisory and conduction of such subsystems is a necessity that can be practical by means of measurements on particular variables. In higher education systems also, especially regarding size reduction for the government and its direct executive activities, the supervision roles should be considered in order to increase coordination between the subsystems, while avoiding interference and loss of independence of the universities. In this paper, a scientific-experimental approach for analysis of university subsystems functioning and comparison of their indexed outputs with each other is represented. As a result, a set of reference points is obtained by processing outputs of the subsystems that can be used in designing proper control signals to coordinate function of these subsystems. In this goal-free self-evaluation approach, each unit (subsystem) can assess its function with the aids of Possibility Distribution Functions (PDF) estimated for various output variables. The reference points obtained by the PDFs will be used to compare the units, outputs and this enables each unit to design direction of its own feedback control signal, which modifies its outputs to a better position. The special case study in this paper is disciplinary committees of the state universities in the country. The simple proposed approach, which should be conducted by the central supervisory system, helps managers of the universities to modify function of their committees by information obtained as the output of this study. Moreover, continuation of such studies can represent a useful image of variations and trends in view points of the administrative staff of universities. The supervisory system then can apply necessary control signals based on the trends whenever needed.