Performance evaluation and improvement topics are widely discussed in academic institutions. Universities are attempting to identify frameworks that would best identify issues and their underlying problems, in an attempt to improve performance and student satisfaction within an environment full of complex dependencies between observed factors.

Tseng’s paper does not provide new theories. It adapts existing toolboxes to build a framework to help academia analyze its effectiveness. As a base, it uses the balanced scorecard (BSC), a tool widely used in businesses worldwide. Dependencies are analyzed with the analytic network process (ANP) and the decision-making trial and evaluation lab (DEMATEL). Fuzzy concepts are introduced to deal with uncertainty, abundant when relevant parameters are on the table. The resulting toolkit is the fuzzy network balanced scorecard (FNBSC) process. A detailed realistic case study is illustrated. The paper presents this as a promising approach, with associated visual amenities that make it easy for managers to spot the source of issues.

Although the scope of the study is limited, the paper is a good example of putting advanced tools to work in an application area.