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With the understanding that universities play multiple social purposes, we aimed to provide an estimation of the economic impact of the public universities in South Africa. Using models described in the literature, we estimated economic benefits from four university activities -- university exports, research at universities, the production of graduates and universities as business entities. Comparative analysis shows that, as an economic sector, Higher Education contributes more to South Africa's gross value added than other economic sectors such as Wood and Wood Products, Textiles, Clothing and Leather Goods, or Paper and Paper Products. It is comparable to sectors such as Gold Mining, and Beverages and Tobacco. Taking into account a number of assumptions, which are explained in the text, for 2018 the total economic impact was estimated at about ZAR513 billion. Governmental expenditure on higher education in that year was ZAR66 billion. These figures produce a cost--benefit ratio for the sector of 1 : 7.7, considering only these four university activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary policy discussions on higher education, the idea that this environment is in danger of becoming isolated from the world, ignoring the wishes and needs of society at large, is a constant background. From a historical point of view, it is mostly true that the academic spectrum has been rather impermeable in both directions: the knowledge generated and transmitted within it was very little based on the outside world and less concerned with its application to the problems of the outside world. In the globalised world of the 21st century, this kind of impermeability is no longer possible. The expansion of higher education systems in all regions has brought new socio-economic groups into the educational environment, with a greater diversity of cultures, levels of academic preparation, and expectations. In order to gain a better insight into the topic, we used an examination approach by overlaying information from different sources of exploration and analyzing the level of comparability over time. This paper examined the main characteristics of education as a pillar for defining human capital and its effects on academia. The findings are explained in the conclusion section, but it is mandatory to specify one conclusion regarding the fact that the costs of academic expansion have also led to increased pressure from governments to justify state funding, a justification that is usually couched in terms of direct and measurable social and economic impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lockdowns imposed around the world to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus and its variants had a differential impact on economic activity and jobs owing to differences in the ability to work remotely. This paper presents a new index of the feasibility to work from home to investigate which types of jobs are most at risk for 35 advanced and emerging market economies. Cross-country heterogeneity in the ability to work remotely reflects differential access to and use of technology, sectoral mix, and occupational selection. Workers least likely to work remotely tend to be young, without a college education, working for non-standard contracts, employed in smaller firms, and those at the bottom of the earnings distribution, suggesting that the pandemic has exacerbated inequality. Policies should account for demographic and distributional considerations both during the crisis and in its aftermath. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mexico, Technical professional education has transformed its graduation profile for almost two decades, going from offering training for work with a terminal character to adopting the baccalaureate, enabling the transition to higher education. The transformations of the academic and curricular model have brought about a change in the student profile that has been little studied up to now. Due to the above, the present work provides relevant evidence from the study of the educational and labor expectations of students about to graduate from Conalep. The main finding identified is that the expectations towards higher education are a generalized desire, regardless of the family context and economic situation. In this sense, family and economic factors exert a major influence that limits the realization of said life project. These two factors condition the decision to opt for work and not follow the vocational effect of careers. Likewise, the study provides evidence of the vocational strength towards work the Training Model holds in the Conalep System. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the new context of COVID-19, the authors assess the economic gap of the absence of students from Cluj-Napoca for one month due to the pandemic quarantine and isolation. The economic gap is presented in terms of estimated expenditures that did not occur, on an average monthly basis. The estimations are based on the survey data carried among Babeș-Bolyai University students that assessed students' expenditure for the year of 2015 in Cluj-Napoca. Our results suggest that due to the absence of the student population from Cluj-Napoca, around 33.4 million Euros is the expected amount of loss per month through spending that does not occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article seeks to show the feelings and voices of the actors of higher education from within the training process, contrasting them with the provisions and suggestions of international organizations and national agreements. For this, at first, it points out the economic impact that has been unleashed by the pandemic Covid-19, leaving in second place the consequences in education, that is, that the health context has a greater impact on the economy, whereas, in education, only the evident affectations are shown. The fundamental objective is to demonstrate the feeling, the obstacles, the developed competences and the real challenges that the adjustment from face-to-face to virtual teaching has produced from the voice of students, teachers, and managers; in order to be a reference for proposals, programs or plans in higher education in pandemic contexts. The methodology used was content analysis with mixed design, since, when categorizing the data obtained from the questionnaire applied to the actors of higher education, they were systematized in MAXQDA2020 for plotting. Finally, there is a contrast between what is real and what is expressed about higher education by international organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities have the capacity to attract students from a vast geographical area, thus resulting in new residences for its host city. This is a well-known effect especially for major and prestigious universities located in relatively small locations. Babeș-Bolyai University in the city of Cluj-Napoca is such an example. Using our survey data, we explore a form of local tourism left rather unexplored - the students' visitors. Our results show that only 9.3% of these visitors spend the night at a hotel or hostel making this type of tourism little known and mostly untraceable for official tourism data. An estimated 7.5 million Euros were spent only by the BBU students' visitors in the city of Cluj-Napoca in the year of 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the employment and work status of Catalan graduates from public universities, by establishing a comparison between three cohorts of graduates: 2004 (during an expansion), 2007 (starting point of economic crisis), and 2010 (during the crisis). A first descriptive analysis shows that the rise of unemployment has affected graduates differently according to gender, social origin, field of study and work during higher education. A second typological analysis shows a homogeneous structure of occupations among the cohorts. However, starting with the 2010 cohort, the most exposed to the crisis, the absolute number of graduates with the better occupational conditions has declined, whereas the number of graduates in less protected has increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Undergraduate study behaviours, principally lecture attendance and additional study, are shown to predict better student achievement by many researchers. Despite this, there is not much evidence on the determinants of these behaviours. This is the first paper to explore the determinants of study behaviours across multiple subject areas; and is the first to incorporate students’ noncognitive traits into such a model; that the authors are aware of. This enables the formation of policy that can improve academic achievement by encouraging study behaviour. The results show that students’ noncognitive traits, in particular conscientiousness and future-orientation, are important determinants of lecture attendance and additional study hours. In fact, there is very little that explains undergraduate study behaviour besides noncognitive traits. Standard economic factors, such as family income, financial aid and parental transfers, are not predictive of study behaviours. Some comments are provided on a potential behavioural economics approach to encouraging study behaviours. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article will be a brief analysis of the results of fieldwork carried out in Angola on the higher education of Angolans who have gone to Portugal or Brazil with the objective of continuing their education. We will analyze the students' reasons and motivations, the role of their families, economic factors, and their integration into the host society, as well as their return to Angola upon completion of training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There is a vast literature on the decision to enroll in higher education, but it focuses almost entirely on traditional students: 18 year olds graduating from high school. Yet less than half of students at degree-granting institutions are in the traditional 18–22 age range; nearly 40% are at least 25. This paper examines the enrollment behavior of persons 25 or older. We use data from a large-scale 1998 Department of Labor (DOL) policy demonstration in Greater Baltimore. By studying the behavior of older people we can examine factors such as age, earnings and marital status that vary little among the much-studied traditional students. Our results conform to the (rarely tested) predictions of human capital theory that age and opportunity costs are impediments to enrollment. We also find that where you live has a substantial impact on whether you return to school. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We study student loan behavior in the Netherlands where (i) higher education students know little about the conditions of the government''s financial aid program and (ii) take-up rates are low. In a field experiment we manipulated the amount of information students have about these conditions. The treatment has no impact on loan take-up, which is not due to students already having decided to take a loan or students not absorbing the information. We conclude that a lack of knowledge about specific policy parameters does not necessarily imply a binding information constraint. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Empirical research has shown that cultural values matter for economic growth and has specifically identified the achievement motivation as an aspect of culture that engenders economic growth. If specific cultural values engender economic growth, how then can societies promote them? This paper addresses this question using the 2005 wave of the World Values Survey data for 43 countries. We test the contention that both formal and informal education significantly impacts the relative importance an individual places on economic achievement vis-à-vis traditional social norms. Results suggest that individuals with higher education levels and better access to media attach higher importance to values related to autonomy and economic achievement as compared to conformity to traditional social norms. These results underscore the importance of institutions, specifically public policy on both formal and informal educational channels, in facilitating adoption of values that are considered important for economic development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the effects of a higher education accountability system in Brazil. For each discipline, colleges were assigned a grade that depended on the scores of their students on the ENC, an annual mandatory exam. These grades were then disclosed to the public and colleges were rewarded or penalized based on them. I find that the ENC had a positive effect on the education and the proportion of full-time faculty and that it increased the number of vacancies offered, applicants and enrollments. Colleges were affected differently depending on grades, ownership and academic organization, changing the distribution of students among them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a policy change involving statewide school district refinancing in Kansas during the early 1990s to identify the relationship between per-pupil expenditure and the probability that a student will progress to higher education. Kansas’s school district refinancing was intended to equalize per-pupil expenditure conditional on a measure of cost developed by the state. This equalization process resulted in a change in spending that, although not completely exogenous, is understood well enough that an unbiased estimate of the effect of spending on students’ post-secondary destinations can be made. Since additional years of education are known to increase lifetime earnings, a simple cost-benefit analysis of a hypothetical spending increase is considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]