Performance indicators: a comparative analysis between public and private colleges in Brazil

A comparative analysis between the use of performance indicators to public and private organizations have always been required to examine the scenario related to both. This study seeks to analyze the use of Balanced Scorecard (BSC) to identify and understand the main differences and similarities in public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) in Brazil in relation to the use of other organizations performance indicators. A quantitative and exploratory approach was adopted using institutional documents analysis. Data was searched on the websites of Brazilian higher education public and private organizations in order to accomplish this analysis comparative. The results showed that even reviewing few public institutions the use of performance indicators appears to be more efficient than those applied to the private ones. Private universities should observe and improve their processes and performance indicators based on those used in Brazilian public universities. This initial research still opens a horizon so that other studies be developed within this thought stream