An analysis of the relationship between higher education performance and socio-economic and technological indicators: the Latin American case study

Abstract

This paper reports on a study that analyzed the research output of higher education systems in a select number of Latin American countries and its relationship to several socio-economic and technological success indicators. This was placed within a broader discussion of the changing role of the university in society. The study used the rankings of the countries surveyed with respect to two major indicators: 1. higher education and training (Global Competiveness Report 2012-2013) and 2. scientific productivity of higher education institutions (HEI) as measured by the number of research papers published in international, peer reviewed journals as archived in the Scopus Database (Elsevier B.V.) and available in the SIR Iberoamericano Ranking Reports 2009-2013. The relationship of both indicators with various socio-economic and technology indicators was examined to assess the extent to which the quality and scientific productivity of a country’s higher education system affected a number of country performance indices such as global competitiveness, innovation, health and primary education, government effectiveness, knowledge and technology output and GDP per capita. The relationship between scientific productivity in the form of published, refereed papers and a country’s investment in R&D, researcher headcount per million inhabitants and the quality of its research institutes was analyzed as well. The findings at the Latin American level were compared to the research effectiveness of higher education institutes at the global level. The study found that, notwithstanding the huge variation that existed between the countries studied in the survey, the education and training country rank and the country average HEI publication record correlates with several important socio-economic indicators. Although improvements have been made many Latin American countries still trail their global counterparts in the area of research and publication.