Optimization of the use of the budget in the quality improve-ment process in a higher education institution in ecuador

The actions and models to improve the quality of higher education institutions already exceed decades of application and show notorious results, just as they are spread throughout the globe. Another notable feature is the diversity of variables, models, weights of importance given to the variables and divergences between criteria relative to the proposed models. The financial and budgetary limitations faced by a large part of higher education institutions to be able to systematically carry out the improvements demanded by these models are also pointed out. Both the diversity of variables and the financial limitations demand the application of multi-criteria models that make it easier for decision makers to structure solution projects of a systemic nature that allow the improvement of quality within the framework of the financial limitations that their institutions may have. This research was oriented to the development of a multicriteria method that allows a higher education institution in Ecuador to design actions to improve its quality system with an optimal use of its budget. To solve the problem, modeling and solution of the problem were used using a solution algorithm in Matlab that allowed improving the objective function within the framework of the existing financial limitations in the entity under study.