In recent years, enhancing the overall instructional quality in higher vocational colleges and universities through robust performance management has emerged as a pivotal concern in educational discourse. This study delves into the challenges inherent in the existing personnel performance appraisal systems within these institutions, employing both questionnaires and interviews for data collection. To address issues such as the vague delineation of appraisal objectives and the diffuse focus of evaluations, we propose the development of a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) model tailored for assessing faculty performance. This model integrates the four dimensions of finance, customer satisfaction, internal processes, and learning and growth, establishing causal linkages among them. The appropriateness of performance indicators for faculty evaluation is subsequently quantified using the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. Experimental validation reveals that the prevalent appraisal systems suffer from indistinct objectives and a lack of clear focus, with 41.1% of respondents indicating that the performance appraisal index system for counselors is suboptimal. Consequently, this research underscores the significant role that the construction of KPI-based performance appraisal models plays in refining personnel management practices within higher vocational colleges and universities.