Economic Growth, Governance and Educational Sustainability: A VAR Analysis

Abstract

Quality educational institutions are strategic tools for accelerating the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All the 17 SDGs are interlinked. For instance, quality education (SDG4) reduces poverty (SDG 1,2) and inequalities (SDG10) and stimulates good health and wellbeing (SDG3). The paper applied unorthodox theoretical postulations such as convergence models, intergovernmentalism, neofunctionalism and neorealism in explaining how functional (educational) institutions are a necessary enabling environment in accelerating the attainment of SDGs. Empirically, the paper identified unclear modus operandi, lack of political will, political instability, small and fragmented markets and economies with heterogeneous characteristics, and lack of standardization of product and procedures, among other factors, as constraints to sustainability in tertiary education. A Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model was employed using data from 51 Sub-Saharan countries. The three variables were gross domestic product per capita (GDPP), governance and tertiary education expenditure. Results indicated significant short-run unidirectional causality from gross domestic product per capita and tertiary education expenditure to governance, but joint short-run causality was not established. However, transmission effects across the three variables became significant as the number of years increased to ten years. The study recommends a holistic approach from policymakers in order to ensure sustainability in tertiary education due to interlinkages, with emphasis placed on direction of causality.

Accelerating sustainable development goals in the wake of COVID-19: The role of higher education institutions in South Africa

“…The circumstances are worsened by low income per capita across many African countries. Significant variances reflected by inequalities and widespread poverty are so high to an extent that African countries like Nigeria recently became the poverty capital of the world, ahead of India (Pasara, 2021). South Africa is one of the most unequal countries globally, living standards in Zimbabwe continue to worsen whilst poverty in Malawi remains sustained.…”

“…There are very few African universities apart from those mentioned above which are engaged in quality research outputs . In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oxford University has been collaborating with the University of Witswatersrand of South Africa in conducting trials on the efficacy of the Astrazeca vaccine, a commendable effort (Pasara, 2021). However, in general, the majority of universities in Africa are struggling to ensure that their students can get access to subsidised mobile data so that virtual classes can continue.…”

“…It should be noted, however, that political leaders can genuinely renege on their SDG obligations due to national emergencies. National emergencies common to Africa include suppressed popular or political dissent, ethnic conflicts, civil strife, natural disasters, disease outbreaks such as Ebola, cholera and more recently, the coronavirus (Candau & Dienesch, 2015;le Roux, 2005;Pasara, 2021). Sometimes pursuing long-term strategies such as the SDGs may appear like an unjustified luxury in the face of national emergencies.…”

A Story of Strengths and Weaknesses in Tertiary Education: Evaluating ‘Mobility’ and ‘Opportunities’ in OECD Countries with Composite Indicators

“…Conceptually speaking, the idea behind the aggregation of the two indexes in a single measure was aimed at delineating a latent dimension of long-term sustainability in tertiary education [40]. In other words, we assumed the outcomes of tertiary education in a given economic system as sustainable (sensu [41]) if the two dimensions of 'mobility' and 'opportunities' reach the highest scores [42], i.e., giving the best chance to achieve a satisfactory education level in the most favorable socioeconomic context to a given student [43]. The highest ranks of the composite indicator thus delineate a condition of long-term sustainability of the tertiary education system [44], in turn reflecting the intrinsic efficiency of the system itself [45].…”

Education for Sustainable Development in Educating Cities: Towards a Transformative Approach from Informal and Non-Formal Education

“…Education plays a fundamental role in the development of this local strategy, because there is a relationship between quality education and an improvement in the quality of the environment [23]. A quality education is what facilitates, among other things, citizens acquiring the basic skills for the transition to organic farming or industrial production based on green technology, from a productivity point of view [24], and the incorporation of the responsible use of water and energy to build more sustainable cities [25].…”