The economics of higher education

This paper describes the expansion of higher education (HE) in OECD countries and discusses its economic consequences. For most governments this expansion has been seen as the silver bullet that improves economic growth and helps tackle problems of inequality. However, in most countries increasing n...

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Bibliografski detalji
Glavni autori: Holmes, C, Mayhew, K
Format: Journal article
Izdano: Oxford University Press 2016
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author Holmes, C
Mayhew, K
author_facet Holmes, C
Mayhew, K
author_sort Holmes, C
collection OXFORD
description This paper describes the expansion of higher education (HE) in OECD countries and discusses its economic consequences. For most governments this expansion has been seen as the silver bullet that improves economic growth and helps tackle problems of inequality. However, in most countries increasing numbers of graduates are going into jobs that were once done by non-graduates, raising the concern that the true social returns to HE expansion are low. Because of this it is unsurprising that economists have found it difficult to establish firm links between higher education expansion and economic growth. At the same time, in some countries, HE expansion has exacerbated problems of economic and social inequality. The paper argues that governments need to take a more realistic view of the role of HE, consider alternative ways of preparing people for the labour market, and at the same time explore more rigorously exactly how the sector is conducting itself.
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spelling oxford-uuid:3996907f-6a04-41a2-a8e4-ad8f92cc68b52022-03-26T13:56:25ZThe economics of higher educationJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:3996907f-6a04-41a2-a8e4-ad8f92cc68b5Symplectic Elements at OxfordOxford University Press2016Holmes, CMayhew, KThis paper describes the expansion of higher education (HE) in OECD countries and discusses its economic consequences. For most governments this expansion has been seen as the silver bullet that improves economic growth and helps tackle problems of inequality. However, in most countries increasing numbers of graduates are going into jobs that were once done by non-graduates, raising the concern that the true social returns to HE expansion are low. Because of this it is unsurprising that economists have found it difficult to establish firm links between higher education expansion and economic growth. At the same time, in some countries, HE expansion has exacerbated problems of economic and social inequality. The paper argues that governments need to take a more realistic view of the role of HE, consider alternative ways of preparing people for the labour market, and at the same time explore more rigorously exactly how the sector is conducting itself.
spellingShingle Holmes, C
Mayhew, K
The economics of higher education
title The economics of higher education
title_full The economics of higher education
title_fullStr The economics of higher education
title_full_unstemmed The economics of higher education
title_short The economics of higher education
title_sort economics of higher education
work_keys_str_mv AT holmesc theeconomicsofhighereducation
AT mayhewk theeconomicsofhighereducation
AT holmesc economicsofhighereducation
AT mayhewk economicsofhighereducation