Do university rankings matter for growth?

Tan Kuan Lu, Clifford (2013): Do university rankings matter for growth?

Abstract

I investigate the relationship between university rankings and economic growth and found that the relationship is statistically significant. The more the number of universities that a country has in international university rankings, the higher its GDP per capita. What is more surprising is that, as I expand the lists of rankings from top 100 to top 500, the relationship becomes more significant. This suggests that as far as economic growth is concerned, it is more important to have a good number of decent universities(eg in the top 500), rather than only a few elite universities(eg in the top 100).

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: university rankings, GDP per capita
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I25 - Education and Economic Development

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