Purpose: This research aims to investigate and define the eight wastes of lean philosophy in higher education institutions (HEIs) by proposing a multi-stage model. Design/methodology/approach: The authors have used a specific multi-criteria decision-making method, fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory, to investigate the cause-effect relationships and importance order between criteria for wastes in HEIs. In total, 22 criteria were categorized under eight wastes of lean. The study was implemented in a business school with the participation of faculty members from different departments. Findings: The results showed that the most important wastes in the business school selected were repeated tasks, unnecessary bureaucracy, errors because of misunderstanding/communication problems, excessive number of academic units and creation of an excessive amount of information. Another important result was that all the sub-wastes of talent were in the causes group, while motion and transportation wastes were in the effect group. Practical implications: A road map to guide lean transformation for HEIs is proposed with a multi-stage model and potential areas for improvement in HEIs were presented. Originality/value: This study proposes a multi-stage structure by applying multi-criteria decision-making to HEIs, focussing on wastes from a lean perspective.