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Although discussed for more than 20 years, information about Lean adoption in higher education institutions (HEIs) is scarce, especially in developing countries. This research aims to investigate the degree of Lean thinking adoption on administrative services of Brazilian private HEIs. The results are compared to studies from USA and UK, highlighting the maturity on enablers, principles, tools and performance measures related to Lean.

A quantitative survey research was carried out. The instrument is adapted for HEIs from the proposal of Malmbrandt and Åhlström (2013) for Lean services. Cronbach’s alpha and factor analysis were used to validate the adapted instrument. Additional data analysis was based on non-parametric tests.

No evidence of broad implementation of Lean thinking in administrative processes of Brazilian private HEIs was found, with the adoption being incipient. The results are convergent to those presented by other studies in the USA and the UK. There is a gap between the existing knowledge about Lean in the academic sphere of the HEIs and its application on their academic processes.

The effective sample size was of 47, despite contacts being sent to 2,090 institutions. This sample allows exploratory research, although further research is required. Results are adherent to those found in research from other countries.

The research presents descriptive and exploratory results regarding the adoption of Lean in Brazilian HEIs. No previous similar research was found in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to use theoretical and field evidence to discuss what the value-attributes for academic-administrative services as perceived by students in higher education institutions (HEIs) and how such organizations deliver them. An emerging framework relating value-attributes for HEIs’ administrative and academic services is presented from the perspective of students.

Focus group analysis with Brazilian HEI’s students supported this study. Extensive theoretical references from lean services and services theory contribute to building an emerging framework that extends the background on the subject.

The following framework of eight value-attributes for administrative services in HEIs were studied: reliability, empathy, access, responsiveness, self-service technology convenience, communication, personalization and imperceptibility. The value-attributes may receive different degrees of prioritization and improvement effort according to the type of service and strategic positioning of the organization.

Field evidence is limited by the extent of students and organizations accessed. Implications include directing future research to produce a quantitatively validated model and as an emerging framework, to support decision-planning in the context of HEIs.

The study extends the literature relating the connection between lean services, services theory and higher education services. No similar study has been found in Brazilian HEIs.

Implementing lean management (LM) provides universities with a variety of benefits and utilities. The purpose of this study is to systematically analyze the existing literature on the implementation of LM in universities.

A systematic literature review is undertaken to identify, select and evaluate the literature. A total of 68 articles were identified in Web of Science and Scopus, analyzed and synthesized from the first article published on the topic (2003) to mid-2020.

Literature analysis and evaluation have enabled us to offer a novel literature classification based around four research lines that summarize the empirical evidence on LM implementation in universities, namely, lean applied to academic management processes; lean applied to administrative management processes; factors that facilitate lean implementation and results obtained with lean. Finally, the gaps and challenges for future research into LM in universities are presented.

This study provides a characterization of the research carried out into LM implementation in universities, which facilitates the work of both scholars wishing either to begin or to dig deeper into this sphere and university professionals and managers pursuing the best outcomes from LM.