Application of the Economic Value Added (EVA) Protocol in a University Setting as a Capital Budgeting Tool

This paper attempts to propose the uses of a capital budgeting tool, the Economic Value Added (EVA)for a university. Although there are reports of widespread use of the EVA in many for-profit organisations, there is no evidence in literature that it has been adopted as a capital budgeting tool for a university. In this paper the application of the EVA for a university is proposed. It shows how the EVA can increase the awareness of the importance of asset utilisation in universities and guide universities to better resource management. EVA is proposed for use in a university setting in two different segments: for-profit and non-profit. The EVA has been adjusted with a new measure, Academic Value Added Ratio (AVAR) to reflect the university's objective. The perception of academic staff in the case study university in Thailand with regards to the concept of applying the EVA to a university is further investigated. The results indicate that most members of management staff do not oppose this concept if it is implemented in a proper way.