Benchmarking United States public administration higher education practices and policies for adaptation in developing and emerging countries: An examination of Romania and Peru

Benchmarking is a quality improvement method that guides the adaptation of best practices. It is used in higher education institutions to improve managerial practices. This study is concerned with the applications of benchmarking for the development of public administration degree programs via the adaptation of academic practices from experienced public administration higher education institutions.; A review of the development process of the Public Administration Department at Babes-Bolyai University (P.A.-B.B.U.) reveals that this Department conducted a benchmarking process of the U.S. model of public administration higher education when they adapted a set of academic and managerial practices from the U.S. to Romania. The study suggests that the promising results obtained make this Department a useful reference for other higher education institutions looking forward to develop public administration studies.; A specific interest of this study is the extent to which benchmarking can assist the development of public administration higher education programs in Peru. In that, the study concludes that the benchmarking methodology is recommendable for such an endeavor, and that the benchmarking process conducted in P.A.-B.B.U. is relevant for guiding Peruvian higher education institutions on similar adaptations.