Global Perspectives on Higher Education

Economic Growth and Tertiary Education Arguments that link education and economic growth are familiar to all of us. A recent analysis of sources of economic growth conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that improvement in human capital—as measured by increasing levels of educational attainment— was a common factor behind growth in all OECD member countries in the 1980s and 1990s (OECD Economic Outlook, December 2000). Indeed, of the several possible factors contributing to economic growth, only exposure to trade had a greater positive effect than improvement in human capital. Today, close attention is being given to how to further increase the contribution from human capital to growth. The extent to which countries’ economies are based on human capital is reflected by their development of “knowledge workers” and a “knowledge economy.” Three key facts illustrate progress along these lines: (1) between the midto late-1980s and the late 1990s, employment in knowledge-based industries increased as a share of overall business-sector employment in two-thirds of the developed countries for which data are available; (2) the share of workers with tertiary education increased more rapidly than their share of the overall population; and (3) white-collar, high-skill employment increased more rapidly than employment in other occupations. These findings serve as a backdrop for the reshaping of policies concerning education, learning, skills, and competencies. Comparative data further illustrate how countries differ on two measures of human capiAlan Wagner University at Albany, State University of New York