Relationship between determinants of higher education and economic development: The case of Kazakhstan

  • Received September 4, 2022;
    Accepted March 3, 2023;
    Published March 16, 2023
  • Author(s)
  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.21(1).2023.29
  • Article Info
    Volume 21 2023, Issue #1, pp. 336-351
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

This study aims to examine the relationship between higher education and economic development determinants in Kazakhstan’s regions. The paper used two sets of indicators of three-time series: 2010, 2015, and 2020. The analysis constructed a correlation using a panel dataset for 15 regions of Kazakhstan compiled by the Statistics Bureau of Kazakhstan and the National Bank. The first set reflects the determinants of higher education (number of students in colleges and universities, number of teaching staff, and the existing ICT infrastructure in universities). The second set includes indicators of regional economic development (GRP per capita and the population’s income level). The results showed a causal relationship between economic development and the determinants of higher education in the regions of Kazakhstan, which depend on the period. Surprisingly, the number of university students has almost no effect on GRP per capita and the population’s income level. For 2015–2020, the study observed the emergence and strengthening of correlations between economic growth and the development of innovations in universities. The findings also identified Mangystau, Atyrau, North Kazakhstan, and Pavlodar as regions with low innovation development in education. Therefore, the country’s higher education development policy should encourage and strengthen knowledge management systems in these regions. The study concludes that higher education and economic indicators significantly influence the growth of the economy in Kazakhstan.

Acknowledgment
The study was carried out within the framework of program-targeted IRN BR18574240 funding by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Development Strategy of Kazakhstan Regional Potential: Assessment of Socio-Cultural and Economic Potentials, Roadmap, Models and Scenarios Planning”.

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    • Figure 1. Dynamics of GRP development in the regions of Kazakhstan for 2010, 2015, and 2020
    • Figure 2. P-plots
    • Table 1. Selected measurement variables used in the correlation analysis
    • Table 2. Dynamics of changes in the number of university students for 2010–2020
    • Table 3. Indicators of accessible ICT infrastructure at colleges and universities by regions
    • Table 4. Spearman’s rho Correlation matrix – 2010 / Sig. (2-tailed)
    • Table 5. Spearman’s rho Correlation matrix – 2015 / Sig. (2-tailed)
    • Table 6. Spearman’s rho Correlation matrix – 2020 / Sig. (2-tailed)
    • Conceptualization
      Shyngys Karabayev, Anna Kredina, Makpal Bekturganova, Yerkara Aimagambetov
    • Data curation
      Shyngys Karabayev, Kuralay Nurgaliyeva, Anna Kredina
    • Investigation
      Shyngys Karabayev, Anna Kredina, Makpal Bekturganova
    • Methodology
      Shyngys Karabayev, Makpal Bekturganova, Yerkara Aimagambetov
    • Project administration
      Shyngys Karabayev, Kuralay Nurgaliyeva
    • Visualization
      Shyngys Karabayev, Anna Kredina, Yerkara Aimagambetov
    • Writing – original draft
      Shyngys Karabayev, Anna Kredina, Makpal Bekturganova
    • Writing – review & editing
      Shyngys Karabayev, Kuralay Nurgaliyeva, Makpal Bekturganova
    • Formal Analysis
      Kuralay Nurgaliyeva
    • Funding acquisition
      Kuralay Nurgaliyeva
    • Supervision
      Kuralay Nurgaliyeva
    • Resources
      Anna Kredina
    • Software
      Makpal Bekturganova, Yerkara Aimagambetov
    • Validation
      Yerkara Aimagambetov