Productivity and Higher Education
- LAST REVIEWED: 25 September 2019
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 September 2019
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0227
- LAST REVIEWED: 25 September 2019
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 September 2019
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0227
Introduction
The study of productivity in higher education, and its contribution to local and global economies, has become an increasingly important area of focus for scholars, as well as for those who fund and administer higher education institutions. The reason for greater attention in part comes from the increasing scale of postsecondary education in most countries. Both developed and developing countries have grown their provision of higher education in the last seventy years, and along with this, there has been an increase in per capita enrolment. This growth accelerated during the 1990s and 2000s when the proportion of the worldwide population entering higher education more than doubled. Across all countries one in three young people are now enrolled, requiring the establishment of many more universities, colleges, and other higher education institutions. Universities and colleges now demand a greater proportion of public and private resources and form a larger part of the economic life of most countries. Higher education contributes to growth and economic efficacy and, hence, the overall productivity of an economy. While few scholars dispute the productivity-augmenting power of education, and often research looks at the role of higher education alongside that of primary and secondary education, there remains much debate over the size of the contribution it makes to economic growth, economic efficiency, and, hence, to raising productivity overall. Significant questions remain as to the correlation between higher education system performance and economic growth and whether or not relationships are causal. The most prominent theory linking higher education to economic productivity has been its function in contributing to the development of human capital through the production of skilled graduates. At the same time, the capacity for universities and colleges to contribute to greater economic efficiency depends on their own productivity in educating students and undertaking research. Given the scale of higher education worldwide, how efficient and effective universities and colleges are at educating students is an important productivity question. Research by economists, management scholars, and those who study public administration provides an important entry point for readers who want to access the breadth of research examining productivity and higher education.
Economic Growth and Higher Education
The relationship between higher education and improvements in overall productivity comes primarily from the contribution to economic growth of having a more skilled workforce. Universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education are frequently asked to justify their effect on economic outcomes, especially where they receive significant public funding. Studies have sought to quantify the economic impact of higher education locally, nationally, and transnationally, using different techniques and approaches. Bloom, et al. 2014; Brown and Heaney 1997; Campeanu, et al. 2017; Holland, et al. 2013; and Oreopoulos and Petronijevic 2013 provide conceptual discussions on the economic impact of higher education. Bowen 2018 and Dickson and Harmon 2011 offer useful discussions on returns to education.
Bloom, David E., David Canning, Kevin J. Chan, and Dara Lee Luca. 2014. Higher education and economic growth in Africa. International Journal of African Higher Education 1.1: 22–57.
Study examining the relationship between degree attainment and economic growth in Africa, with a useful discussion on the challenge of measuring the economic impact of higher education.
Bowen, H. 2018. Investment in learning: The individual and social value of American higher education. New York: Routledge.
Volume examining the gains from US higher education in multiple contexts; argues that the nonmonetary benefits are far greater, including useful discussion of nonmonetary benefits.
Brown, K. H., and M. T. Heaney. 1997. A note on measuring the economic impact of institutions of higher education. Research in Higher Education 382:229–240.
Article surveying different approaches to measuring economic impacts, which provides commentary on the limits of examining the economic impact of universities.
Campeanu, E., D. Dumitrescu, I. Costica, and I. Boitan. 2017. The impact of higher education funding on socio-economic variables: Evidence from EU countries. Journal of Economic Issues 513:748–781.
Study examining levels of higher education funding and its impact on socioeconomic outcomes.
Dickson, M., and C. Harmon. 2011. Economic returns to education: What we know, what we don’t know, and where we are going-some brief pointers. Economics of Education Review 306:1118–1122.
DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2011.08.003
A summary of issues around examining economic returns to education, with some reference to higher education.
Elliott, D. S., S. L. Levin, and J. B. Meisel. 1988. Measuring the economic-impact of institutions of higher-education. Research in Higher Education 281:17–33.
DOI: 10.1007/BF00976857
An article discussing design and methodological issues with research assessing the economic impact of higher education.
European Centre for the Development of Vocational, T. 2014. Macroeconomic benefits of vocational education and training. Research Paper No 40. European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training.
A study of six European Union countries, showing that labor productivity increases with higher rates of tertiary degree attainment.
Holland, D., I. Liadze, C. Rienzo, and D. Wilkinson. 2013. The relationship between graduates and economic growth across countries. BIS Research Paper 110. London: National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
A useful study examining economic growth and graduates across multiple countries, which also provides a survey of approaches.
McMahon, W. W. 2004. The social and external benefits of education. In International Handbook on the Economics of Education. Edited by G. Johnes and J. Johnes. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Article summarizing social and external benefits of education with some reference to higher education.
OECD. 2008. Tertiary education for the knowledge society. 2 vols. Paris: OECD.
Evidence on higher education’s benefits to society and how it drives economic performance.
Oreopoulos, P., and U. Petronijevic. 2013. Making college worth it: A review of the returns to higher education. Future of Children 231:41–65.
Article reviewing the literature on the returns to higher education with the aim of determining who benefits from college.
Peracchi, F. 2006. Educational wage premia and the distribution of earnings: An international perspective. In Handbook of the economics of education. Vol. 1. Edited by E. Hanushek and F. Welch. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
A review on what is known about the contribution of differences in relative wages across schooling levels to the degree of variability, between countries and over time.
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Article
- Academic Achievement
- Academic Audit for Universities
- Academic Freedom and Tenure in the United States
- Action Research in Education
- Adjuncts in Higher Education in the United States
- Administrator Preparation
- Adolescence
- Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Courses
- Advocacy and Activism in Early Childhood
- African American Racial Identity and Learning
- Alaska Native Education
- Alternative Certification Programs for Educators
- Alternative Schools
- American Indian Education
- Animals in Environmental Education
- Art Education
- Artificial Intelligence and Learning
- Assessing School Leader Effectiveness
- Assessment, Behavioral
- Assessment, Educational
- Assessment in Early Childhood Education
- Assistive Technology
- Augmented Reality in Education
- Beginning-Teacher Induction
- Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
- Black Undergraduate Women: Critical Race and Gender Perspe...
- Black Women in Academia
- Blended Learning
- Bullying
- Case Study in Education Research
- Changing Professional and Academic Identities
- Character Education
- Children’s and Young Adult Literature
- Children's Beliefs about Intelligence
- Children's Rights in Early Childhood Education
- Citizenship Education
- Civic and Social Engagement of Higher Education
- Classroom Learning Environments: Assessing and Investigati...
- Classroom Management
- Coherent Instructional Systems at the School and School Sy...
- College Admissions in the United States
- College Athletics in the United States
- Community Relations
- Comparative Education
- Computer-Assisted Language Learning
- Computer-Based Testing
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- Continuous Improvement and "High Leverage" Educational Pro...
- Counseling in Schools
- Creativity
- Critical Approaches to Gender in Higher Education
- Critical Perspectives on Educational Innovation and Improv...
- Critical Race Theory
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- Cross-National Research on Continuous Improvement
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- Cultural Diversity in Early Childhood Education
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- Culturally Responsive Pedagogies
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- Curriculum Design
- Data Collection in Educational Research
- Data-driven Decision Making in the United States
- Deaf Education
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- Development, Moral
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- Digital Age Teacher, The
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- Digital Divides
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- Distributed Leadership
- Doctoral Education and Training
- Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Denmark
- Early Childhood Education and Development in Mexico
- Early Childhood Education in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Early Childhood Education in Australia
- Early Childhood Education in China
- Early Childhood Education in Europe
- Early Childhood Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Early Childhood Education in Sweden
- Early Childhood Education Pedagogy
- Early Childhood Education Policy
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- Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
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- Environmental and Science Education: Overlaps and Issues
- Environmental Education
- Environmental Education in Brazil
- Epistemic Beliefs
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- Equity, Ethnicity, Diversity, and Excellence in Education
- Ethical Research with Young Children
- Ethics and Education
- Ethics of Teaching
- Ethnic Studies
- Europe, History of Education in
- Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention
- Family and Community Partnerships in Education
- Family Day Care
- Federal Government Programs and Issues
- Feminization of Labor in Academia
- Finance, Education
- Financial Aid
- Formative Assessment
- Future-Focused Education
- Gender and Achievement
- Gender and Alternative Education
- Gender, Power and Politics in the Academy
- Gender-Based Violence on University Campuses
- Gifted Education
- Girls' Education in the Developing World
- Global Mindedness and Global Citizenship Education
- Global University Rankings
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- Higher Education and Globalization
- Higher Education and the Developing World
- Higher Education Faculty Characteristics and Trends in the...
- Higher Education Finance
- Higher Education Governance
- Higher Education Graduate Outcomes and Destinations
- Higher Education in Africa
- Higher Education in China
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- Higher Education in the United States, Historical Evolutio...
- Higher Education, International Issues in
- Higher Education Management
- Higher Education Policy
- Higher Education Research
- Higher Education Student Assessment
- High-stakes Testing
- History of Early Childhood Education in the United States
- History of Education in the United States
- History of Technology Integration in Education
- Homeschooling
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- Inclusive Education
- Indigenous Education in a Global Context
- Indigenous Learning Environments
- Indigenous Students in Higher Education in the United Stat...
- Infant and Toddler Pedagogy
- Inservice Teacher Education
- Integrating Art across the Curriculum
- Intelligence
- Intensive Interventions for Children and Adolescents with ...
- International Perspectives on Academic Freedom
- Intersectionality and Education
- Knowledge Development in Early Childhood
- Leadership Development, Coaching and Feedback for
- Leadership in Early Childhood Education
- Leadership Training with an Emphasis on the United States
- Learning Analytics in Higher Education
- Learning Difficulties
- Learning, Lifelong
- Learning, Multimedia
- Learning Strategies
- Legal Matters and Education Law
- LGBT Youth in Schools
- Linguistic Diversity
- Linguistically Inclusive Pedagogy
- Literacy
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- Literature Reviews
- Mathematics Identity
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- Mathematics Teacher Education
- Measurement for Improvement in Education
- Measurement in Education in the United States
- Meta-Analysis and Research Synthesis in Education
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- Methodologies for Conducting Education Research
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- Mixed Methods Research
- Motherscholars
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- Multivariate Research Methodology
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- Music Education
- Narrative Research in Education
- Native American Studies
- Nonformal and Informal Environmental Education
- Note-Taking
- Numeracy Education
- One-to-One Technology in the K-12 Classroom
- Online Education
- Open Education
- Organizing for Continuous Improvement in Education
- Organizing Schools for the Inclusion of Students with Disa...
- Outdoor Play and Learning
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- Pedagogical Leadership
- Pedagogy of Teacher Education, A
- Performance Objectives and Measurement
- Performance-based Research Assessment in Higher Education
- Performance-based Research Funding
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- Politics of Education
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- Post-humanism and Environmental Education
- Pre-Service Teacher Education
- Problem Solving
- Productivity and Higher Education
- Professional Development
- Professional Learning Communities
- Program Evaluation
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- Psychology Learning and Teaching
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- Qualitative Data Analysis Techniques
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- Qualitative Research Design
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- Race and Affirmative Action in Higher Education
- Reading Education
- Refugee and New Immigrant Learners
- Relational and Developmental Trauma and Schools
- Relational Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education
- Reliability in Educational Assessments
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- Researcher Development and Skills Training within the Cont...
- Research-Practice Partnerships in Education within the Uni...
- Response to Intervention
- Restorative Practices
- Risky Play in Early Childhood Education
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- Scale and Sustainability of Education Innovation and Impro...
- Scaling Up Research-based Educational Practices
- School Accreditation
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- School Improvement through Inclusive Education
- School Reform
- Schools, Private and Independent
- School-Wide Positive Behavior Support
- Science Education
- Secondary to Postsecondary Transition Issues
- Self-Regulated Learning
- Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices
- Service-Learning
- Severe Disabilities
- Single Salary Schedule
- Single-sex Education
- Single-Subject Research Design
- Social Context of Education
- Social Justice
- Social Network Analysis
- Social Pedagogy
- Social Science and Education Research
- Social Studies Education
- Sociology of Education
- Standards-Based Education
- Statistical Assumptions
- STEM-related Education, Indigenous Science Education and
- Student Access, Equity, and Diversity in Higher Education
- Student Assignment Policy
- Student Engagement in Tertiary Education
- Student Learning, Development, Engagement, and Motivation ...
- Student Participation
- Student Voice in Teacher Development
- Sustainability Education in Early Childhood Education
- Sustainability in Early Childhood Education
- Sustainability in Higher Education
- Teacher Beliefs and Epistemologies
- Teacher Collaboration in School Improvement
- Teacher Evaluation and Teacher Effectiveness
- Teacher Preparation
- Teacher Training and Development
- Teacher Unions and Associations
- Teacher-Student Relationships
- Teaching Critical Thinking
- Technologies, Teaching, and Learning in Higher Education
- Technology Education in Early Childhood
- Technology, Educational
- Technology-based Assessment
- The Bologna Process
- The Regulation of Standards in Higher Education
- Theories of Educational Leadership
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- Tracking and Detracking
- Traditions of Quality Improvement in Education
- Transformative Learning
- Transitions in Early Childhood Education
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- Using Ethnography in Educational Research
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- Virtual Learning Environments
- Vocational and Technical Education
- Wellness and Well-Being in Education
- Women's and Gender Studies
- Young Children and Spirituality
- Young Children's Learning Dispositions
- Young Children's Working Theories