Enhancing E-learning Management Systems to Promoting the Management Efficiency of Tourism and Hospitality Education

This research is a performance evaluation exploring teaching quality improvement strategies in tourism and hospitality (T H) edu cation and its impact on opera tional performa nce. First, by using D a ta Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in the Assurance Region Model (AR), the relative managerial efficiency of tourism and hospitality departments in 57 higher education institutes in Taiwan were analyzed. Using the AR model, in- depth interviews and meetings with experts were conducted to obtain qualitative data. Practical educational management of both educational investments and output were taken into account, and appropriate evalu ation indicators and weighting were established to increase differentiation and item discrimination indices of the data. Resu lts of the research ena bled a more precise measurement for a nalyzing the effectiveness of tourism and hospitality education management models. Furthermore, results of Mann-Whitney test showed that schools with e-platform, mechanisms for strategic alliance (such as overseas practicum and dual degree programs) manifested more outstanding performance in output efficiency. However, operational performance was not contingent on whether the school was public or private while school location and types of courses showed significant impact. A set of method for evaluating education performance was proposed. Analysis of the operational efficiency and scale efficiency of resource utilization by various TH education departments provided practical help for schools and educational decision-makers to understand the competitive realities of the TH education world and help schools with improvement strategies.