Evidence and Efficiency: The EFFEct Project Partners Meet in Budapest

In mid-September 2025, Budapest hosted the 11th International Workshop on Efficiency in Education, Health and other Public Services. The event was convened under the umbrella of Project EFFEct — an ambitious Horizon Europe initiative designed to improve the way policymakers, researchers, and practitioners think about efficiency in education and beyond. Over two days, the meeting brought together leading scholars and practitioners to exchange evidence, refine methodologies, and reflect on how efficiency can be measured and improved across diverse public service domains.

What is Project EFFEct?

Project EFFEct (short for Evidence on Efficiency for Education, Health and other Public Services) is coordinated by KU Leuven and funded by the European Commission through Horizon Europe (grant 101129146). Its mission is to strengthen the evidence base for policy by developing robust methodologies to assess efficiency in key sectors such as education, health, and public institutions.

Efficiency, in this context, is not simply about cost reduction. It refers to the capacity of institutions to use available resources in ways that maximise outcomes — be they learning gains, health improvements, or citizen wellbeing. As the project’s website highlights, EFFEct is motivated by three guiding principles:

Evidence-driven decision making: Public services must rely on reliable, comparable data to ensure resources are allocated where they deliver the greatest impact.
Context sensitivity: Efficiency looks different in different institutional and cultural environments. A one-size-fits-all approach cannot capture the complexity of educational or health systems.
Policy relevance: Academic results must be translated into clear, actionable insights that decision-makers can use.

To achieve this, the project integrates quantitative tools such as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Stochastic Frontier Analysis with qualitative approaches that capture institutional dynamics. The project aims to generate practical frameworks that can be used across countries to benchmark performance and to inform reforms. Ultimately, the initiative aspires to create a community of practice linking researchers, policymakers, and civil society around the common goal of improving public services.

The Budapest Meeting and Workshop

The September workshop in Budapest was both a project milestone and a major academic gathering. Hosted at the Humán Tudományok Kutatóháza (Centre for Social Sciences), the 11th International Workshop on Efficiency in Education, Health and other Public Services featured a rich two-day programme of presentations, debates, and keynotes.

Day One: Education in the Spotlight

The opening day placed education front and centre, with four consecutive sessions dedicated to different dimensions of educational efficiency.

Session 1 (Education I & II) explored how information shapes educational choices and access. Contributions ranged from Diogo Conceição’s experimental study on summer-school take-up among primary pupils to Jagbir Singh Kadyan’s analysis of corporate responsibility in Indian education and health. In parallel, researchers examined how detracking reforms, admission lotteries, and region-specific strategies influence attainment.
Session 2 (Education III & IV) turned to admissions, sorting, and teaching. Presenters discussed higher education policy in Türkiye, ICT integration in schools, and Irish students’ perceptions of bullying, while parallel talks focused on digital leadership among school principals, teacher shortages, and building teacher self-efficacy in digital competence.
The first keynote was delivered by Jasmina Berbegal Mirabent, who addressed the critical issue of how universities share information with their communities. Her lecture, From data to dialogue: Sharing university information in meaningful ways, urged participants to consider not only what data are collected, but how they can be communicated to foster trust and informed decision-making.
Session 3 (Education V & Public Institutions) closed the day with a broadened lens. International comparisons of educational spending efficiency (TIMSS 2023 data), cross-country analyses of compulsory schooling in the EU27, and performance trends in European regions were set alongside studies of university funding models and the efficiency of clinical research hospitals.

The day ended with an informal dinner, allowing participants to continue exchanges beyond the academic panels.

Day Two: Beyond Education—Skills, Policy, and Governance

The second day extended the focus to broader public service domains.

Session 5 examined efficiency in public institutions and services, covering topics such as quality of government and regional productivity in the EU, water service quality, and composite indicators in public services enhanced by artificial intelligence. A parallel skills track included analyses of mathematics achievement in developing countries, the role of physical characteristics in combat outcomes, and the devastating effects of war on Ukrainian universities.
Session 6 addressed financial skills and governance. Presentations spanned municipal voter satisfaction, financial literacy through gamified trading simulations, and the role of AI-supported learning. In parallel, governance papers explored the outcomes of public tenders in the Czech IT sector, wellbeing metrics across countries, and systemic inefficiencies in Kosovo’s education system.
The programme concluded with a keynote by Benjamin Castlemann, offering fresh insights into the future of educational policy research (topic announced at the event).

A Crossroads for Evidence and Policy

Across its sessions, the Budapest workshop demonstrated the breadth and depth of contemporary efficiency research. While the papers were diverse—ranging from econometric modelling to qualitative explorations of teacher training—they shared a commitment to generating actionable knowledge. What emerged was a clear sense that efficiency must be understood not only as a technical concept but also as a normative one: how societies choose to allocate resources reflects broader priorities and values.

For Project EFFEct, the workshop reinforced its role as a convening platform for scholars and policymakers committed to evidence-based public services. As the project moves forward, the insights generated in Budapest will feed into its comparative studies and methodological outputs, helping to shape policies that make education, health, and governance more effective, equitable, and responsive.