The Use of Systems Dynamics in the Analysis of Facilities Management Affecting the Quality of Higher Education in Egypt

Abstract

In every nation, it is important that the higher education system fulfils the community expectation for perceived quality. One aspect of improving quality is to adopt a better funding strategy for the facilities that are provided by a university. This chapter focuses on the funding strategy for Egyptian universities. The chapter provides the background to the problem distinguishing between private and public universities thenceforward describes the process, employing the causal diagrams, to prioritise the six most important facility services. The budgeting for these services are individually modelled (using both the qualitative and quantitative system dynamics) and then incorporated into a combined stock and flow model. The models allow a facility service administrator to optimise spending in a particular area and also to rank the spending between the six facilities. The models for private and public universities have the same structure but differ with the data. Results of the analysis are discussed in detail.