The Impact of Tertiary Education on Development

After a long period in which the international development community has placed emphasis on primary education, there is now renewed interest in tertiary education (TE). However, the extent and nature of the impact of TE on development remains unclear. This rigorous review seeks to address this question in the context of low- and lower-middle-income countries (LLMICs).

Overall, while there is a large body of literature on TE in LLMICs, the majority of studies focus on the characteristics of TE systems and institutions, or on the short-term effects of interventions (for example, on policy and funding arrangements). We found relatively few studies that sought evidence of the broader impact of TE on development in LLMICs.

A conceptual framework was developed in order to structure the review of literature. Drawing on theories relating TE to human capital development, endogenous development, capabilities and institutional growth, multiple potential pathways to impact were identified. These pathways lead to improvements in five forms of outcome: earnings, productivity, technological transfer, capabilities and institutions.

A rigorous review of relevant literature was undertaken, drawing on the principles of framework synthesis. After a search of bibliographic databases, institutional websites and existing literature reviews, the 6,677 studies identified were screened on title and abstract, and, subsequently, a reduced number (668) screened on full text. Included studies had to meet the criteria of providing empirical evidence of the impact of TE, relating to LLMICs; be in English; and have been published since 1990. Following this stage, 147 studies were identified as being relevant to the main research question. All studies were then appraised for quality (data source, sampling, rigour of analysis, soundness of conclusion, etc.); a further 48 studies were consequently excluded on the basis of lack of methodological rigour.