Higher Education as a Driver of Regional Economy

Abstract

This paper discusses the details of the associative link between the structure of economy and the quality of higher education for Russian regions. Such a link facilitates the interplay between the sectoral structure of a regional economy and its higher education system. This kind of economic policy is consistent with a number of theoretical views on the role that human capital plays in the process of economic growth. On top of that, the paper provides an approach which helps in identifying the directions of development of both the system of higher education and the economic structure of the respective region, as well as coordinating these two processes. In addition, we characterize the complexity of each regional economy and the development of its higher education system. The corresponding indicators complement broadly accepted metrics, such as GRP per capita, which help distinguish between regional economies. In particular, the measure of economic complexity reflects how complex, on average, the industries producing the respective GRP level are. In the paper, we also identify a positive association between the complexity of regional economies and the quality and diversity of higher education programs at the regional level. Nevertheless, a number of regions stay apart because their higher education systems are relatively more advanced compared with the level of complexity of their economies. This result lets us suggest a discussion about the main goals of the regional system of higher education. The provision of training to meet the demands of the local labor market is an important task of the education system. However, a high-quality education system can in itself be considered as a sector of the local economy which is important to develop. Moreover, a high-quality education system facilitates labor mobility, providing better access to better jobs.