IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jfr/ijhe11/v10y2021i1p14.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sub-Sahara Africa’s Higher Education: Financing, Growth, and Em-ployment

Author

Listed:
  • Aloysius Ajab Amin
  • Augustin Ntembe

Abstract

Although higher education plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of Sub-Saharan Africa, enrollment in universities in the region is unexpectedly low compared to other regions. However, Sub-Saharan African countries have made strides in increasing access to higher education amidst constraints and challenges. The efforts have led to increases in enrollment and what many countries did not anticipate is the increase in unemployment from the greater output of students. In this study, we use panel data from eleven Sub-Saharan African countries for 2000-2018 to analyze the relationship between higher education and unemployment. A panel fixed effect model was estimated, and the results indicate that unemployment has a negative and significant effect on higher enrollment. Besides, higher education enrollment has a significant but negative effect on employment. Per capita income significantly affects enrollment into higher education and has the expected sign. The estimates further show that government expenditures on higher education play a significant role in the demand for places in higher education.

Suggested Citation

  • Aloysius Ajab Amin & Augustin Ntembe, 2021. "Sub-Sahara Africa’s Higher Education: Financing, Growth, and Em-ployment," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:jfr:ijhe11:v:10:y:2021:i:1:p:14
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/ijhe/article/download/18691/11655
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/ijhe/article/view/18691
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonas Hjort & Jonas Poulsen, 2019. "The Arrival of Fast Internet and Employment in Africa," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(3), pages 1032-1079, March.
    2. World Bank, 2019. "World Development Report 2019 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2019]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 30435.
    3. Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong & Oliver Paddison & Workie Mitiku, 2006. "Higher education and economic growth in Africa," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 509-529.
    4. Jaison R. Abel & Richard Deitz & Yaquin Su, 2014. "Are recent college graduates finding good jobs?," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, vol. 20.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Joop Age Harm Adema & Cevat Giray Aksoy & Panu Poutvaara, 2021. "Mobile Internet Access and the Desire to Emigrate," ifo Working Paper Series 365, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    2. Joël Cariolle & David A Carroll, 2020. "Digital Technologies for Small and Medium Enterprises and job creation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers hal-03004583, HAL.
    3. Asif M. Islam & Silvia Muzi, 2022. "Does mobile money enable women-owned businesses to invest? Firm-level evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 1245-1271, October.
    4. Jaison R. Abel & Richard Deitz, 2017. "Underemployment in the Early Careers of College Graduates following the Great Recession," NBER Chapters, in: Education, Skills, and Technical Change: Implications for Future US GDP Growth, pages 149-181, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. John M. Nunley & Adam Pugh & Nicholas Romero & Richard Alan Seals, Jr., 2014. "Unemployment, Underemployment, and Employment Opportunities: Results from a Correspondence Audit of the Labor Market for College Graduates," Auburn Economics Working Paper Series auwp2014-04, Department of Economics, Auburn University.
    6. Amanda J. Muhammad & Alina M. Waite & Dwuena C. Wyre, 2019. "Informal Sector Retail Start-Ups In A Caribbean Context," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(02), pages 1-15, June.
    7. Björkegren, Daniel & Karaca, Burak Ceyhun, 2022. "Network adoption subsidies: A digital evaluation of a rural mobile phone program in Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Senhua Huang & Lingming Chen, 2023. "The Impact of the Digital Economy on the Urban Total-Factor Energy Efficiency: Evidence from 275 Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    9. Granguillhome Ochoa, Rogelio & Lach, Samantha & Masaki, Takaaki & Rodríguez-Castelán, Carlos, 2022. "Mobile internet adoption in West Africa," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    10. repec:eur:ejesjr:364 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Katsu Masaki, 2022. "Exploring the ‘Partial Connections’ between Growth and Degrowth Debates: Bhutan’s Policy of Gross National Happiness," Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, , vol. 34(1), pages 86-103, January.
    12. Ofori, Isaac K. & Figari, Francesco, 2022. "Economic Globalisation and Inclusive Green Growth in Africa: Contingencies and Policy-Relevant Thresholds of Governance," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Forthcomi, pages 1-1.
    13. Joël Cariolle & Maëlan le Goff, 2023. "Spatial Internet Spillovers in Manufacturing," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(8), pages 1163-1186, August.
    14. Bahia, Kalvin & Castells, Pau & Cruz, Genaro & Masaki, Takaaki & Pedrós, Xavier & Pfutze, Tobias & Rodríguez-Castelán, Carlos & Winkler, Hernán, 2024. "The welfare effects of mobile broadband internet: Evidence from Nigeria," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    15. Xiao Ke & Yuanke Yan, 2021. "Can proactive fiscal policy achieve the goal of “Beyond Keynesianism”?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 1078-1103, May.
    16. Carballo, Jerónimo & Rodriguez Chatruc, Marisol & Salas Santa, Catalina & Volpe Martincus, Christian, 2022. "Online business platforms and international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    17. Samuel Perlo‐Freeman & Don J. Webber, 2009. "Basic Needs, Government Debt and Economic Growth," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(6), pages 965-994, June.
    18. Michaël Goujon & Joel Cariolle, 2019. "Infrastructure et économie numérique en Afrique subsaharienne et dans l’UEMOA : état des lieux, acteurs, et nouvelles vulnérabilités," Post-Print hal-02069096, HAL.
    19. Huang, Juan & Rangkakulnuwat, Poomthan, 2024. "Does years of schooling matter for economic growth at different development levels? New evidence from China," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 75, pages 5-32.
    20. Dang, Hai-Anh H & Giang, Long T., 2020. "Turning Vietnam's COVID-19 Success into Economic Recovery: A Job-Focused Analysis of Individual Assessments on Their Finance and the Economy," IZA Discussion Papers 13315, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Jim Li & Max Pang & Jennifer Smith & Colleen Pawliuk & Ian Pike, 2020. "In Search of Concrete Outcomes—A Systematic Review on the Effectiveness of Educational Interventions on Reducing Acute Occupational Injuries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-23, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jfr:ijhe11:v:10:y:2021:i:1:p:14. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sciedu Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.