Influence of Higher Education on Competitiveness of National Economies

<p style="text-align: justify;">The role of higher education in improving economic growth and competitiveness is widely acknowledged. Nowadays governments of many countries set as objectives of their economic policies to increase competitiveness and economic growth by improving quality of educational services. Education provides additional benefits, stimulating investments in physical capital, technological progress of the country and adaptation technologies from foreign countries. Primary and secondary education having a larger effect on basic worker productivity while higher education has a larger effect on technological innovation The university is home to a nation&rsquo;s top researchers and is responsible for nurturing the minds of those who will play a leadership role in the future competitiveness of that country. National competitiveness is discussed a lot by politicians and economists in today&rsquo;s globalized world.&nbsp; There are lots of concepts and approaches to estimate a country&rsquo;s overall competitiveness.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The aim of this research is to estimate the impact of higher education systems on competitiveness of national economies. In order to achieve it the following objectives have been set: to review what is known about the role of education in promoting economic well-being; to explore the relationship between education and economic growth; to assess what should be the key variables of interest; to quantify the relationship. The present paper consists of three parts. In the first part different qualitative and quantitative approaches to the term competitiveness are analyzed. In the second part the analysis of education criteria is presented and the economic and social benefits of education are discussed. In the third part of the paper results of the panel data analysis of OECD countries for time period 1999-2011 are described. Overall Competitiveness (IMD) is chosen as a dependent variable to estimate the impact of higher education criteria on national competitiveness. &nbsp;The investigation is conducted on the basis of data for OECD countries, because the impact of education on economic growth is thoroughly studied in these countries and moreover high level of economic development is common to OECD countries.&nbsp;</p>