<p>This paper evaluates the productivity of Argentine public universities from 2013 to 2022 using the Malmquist Index (MI), emphasising graduate production as the primary output. We also evaluate the universities’ productivity during the pandemic. We utilise a novel decomposition of the MI by Aparicio and Santín (Econom Model, 134(1):1–9, 2024), facilitating the analysis of technological changes across all frontiers. This decomposition detects local productivity changes (LTC) caused by the effects on each decision-making unit and global changes (GTC) produced by the industry. Over these ten years, the 47 universities experienced, on average, a slight drop in productivity of 0.33%, in contrast to a technological improvement of 0.3%. We analyse this improvement, breaking down the technological component (TC) of MI into global technological change (GTC) and local technological change (LTC). Furthermore, the conventional technical change component of the Malmquist Index is determined to be 2%, a figure that significantly exceeds the estimates provided by the GTC (0.3%). The omission of this disaggregation may result in misinterpretations concerning the productivity of the university. Additionally, a significant productivity drop of 24% occurred during the pandemic. The findings reveal notable heterogeneity among universities, underscoring the need for tailored educational policies to increase technical efficiency and foster technological expansions.</p>