2.6 CUALIFICACIÓN DE RECOMBINADORES CATALÍTICOS
2.6.3 Condiciones de accidente
growth and global competitiveness
39 Methodology: This was done by gathering data for the throughput rates of all South African Higher Education Institutions, South Africa’s population size and growth determining the relationship between these factors and South Africa’s economic growth and global competitiveness. The data used for this study ranged between 2005 and 2017.
The results for the first aim showed that on a global scale, unemployment and population growth have an inverse relationship with economic growth and tertiary level education enrolment, secondary school education attainment and government expenditure on primary school education has a direct relationship with economic growth. Government expenditure on primary school education has an inverse relationship with global competitiveness, whereas government expenditure on secondary school education and secondary school education attainment has a direct relationship with global competitiveness.
The results for the second aim showed that the throughput rate has increased during the period between 2005 and 2017 and the throughput rate in 2017 was 23.6. Unfortunately, the models demonstrated that the overall and cluster throughput rates in South African higher education institutions did not have an impact on South Africa’s economic growth during the period between 2005 and 2017. However, the throughput percentage in green cluster universities did have a direct relationship with South Africa’s global competitiveness.
The data from this thesis shows some relationships between education and economic growth and global competitiveness. It is important for policy makers to critically evaluate the enrolment and attainment numbers associated with the different levels of education in their countries, and plan their expenditure according to the necessity, as well as the overall impacts that each level will cause to the economy. Considering the cyclical impacts that improved education has on an economy, it is important to increase the accessibility of education to every socio-economic group of the economy. The abovementioned recommendations will hopefully not only improve the quality of life of individuals within countries, but also the economic growth and Global competitiveness. However, prior to implementation, it is important for each country to critically assess its needs in terms of education and then adjust according to the outlined specifications.
For graduates to become participants in the economy, opportunities need to be made available. In recent times, there has been an influx of graduates leaving South Africa and seeking opportunities in other countries. It is important to create opportunity prior to increasing the throughput rate, as an increase in throughput rate with no opportunity creation can result in increased unemployment rates.
It is important for government and higher education institutions to work in an integrated manner to
40 develop solutions for the absorption of graduates and thereafter, the increase of the current throughput rate in South African Higher Education Institutions.
Prior to doing so, it is of pivotal importance to run scenario models to fully understand whether the increase in throughput rates would actually achieve the desired outcomes. It is also of utmost importance to understand the needs of the present and future markets in order to produce graduates that have a higher likelihood of being absorbed into those markets. South Africa is currently suffering from a well-known phenomenon, aptly named “the brain drain” (Kaplan and Höppli, 2017). The “brain drain” describes the movement of highly educated workers mostly from developing countries to developed countries in search of better opportunities and higher income (Carrington and Detragiache, 1999). The risk that this present to an economy is that even though the investment in education may be high, the benefits would not accrue to that country and will instead accrue to the country to which the highly educated worker has migrated to, thus reducing the potential return on investment, and subsequently not resulting in the desired economic growth (Carrington and Detragiache, 1999). As such, it is of utmost importance to not only produce the members of society with the required levels of education, but to also ensure that the market have vacancies available to absorb the newly produced intellectual capital.
In conclusion, both on a global and South African scale, the solution to the improvement of economic growth and global competitiveness must be multi-faceted, and structured to include stakeholders at all levels of society. Furthermore, foresight is of utmost importance, considering that the world is currently moving towards the fourth industrial revolution and possibly beyond. Therefore, policymakers need to do adequate research and consult the various stakeholders in order to create policies which are holistic in their results and potential lead to the desired outcomes of positive economic growth and global competitiveness.
41 Chapter 7: Institutional and managerial recommendations
Globally, economic growth optimisation is a well-researched field. It is important to consider that South Africa as a country, presents a unique context. Due to its tumultuous political past, there are various socio-economic issues that are at play, making its economic situation quite unique. The following chapter seeks to provide recommendations to government and business institutions based on the data presented in the preceding chapters.
The literature has stated various factors as drivers of economic growth. These factors include specialisation and diversification (Simonen, Svento and Juutinen, 2015), policy and governance (Rodrik, 2014), population dynamics (Mankiw, Romer and Weil, 1992) and economic freedom (Easton and Walker, 1997) amongst others. Perhaps the initial step for the South African government should be to critically assess the current state of these various parameters and to develop mitigation strategies for the issues at hand. In addition to this, it is important for South Africa to consider the pivotal role that its human capital plays in the success and sustainability of any mitigation strategies put in place (Crook et al., 2011).
Based on the international data results, secondary school education attainment impacts economic growth and global competitiveness more than all the other parameters tested in that study. Holders of secondary school education tend to make up the largest base of the workforce which keeps the economy functional. However, considering the unemployment rates in South Africa, the possible problem could be that there are insufficient vacancies available for secondary school education holders to occupy.
The literature suggests that education plays a significant role in economic growth. Theory suggests that an increase in education amongst a country’s population increases its labour force, which results in a higher number of individuals contributing towards the country’s gross domestic product (Hanushek and Woessmann, 2010). Furthermore, education can encourage innovation, which can result in the production of newer technologies, subsequently promoting overall growth in the country (Hanushek and Woessmann, 2010). Spreading knowledge through education can also result in the understanding and processing of information to become more efficient within the country, thus promoting economic growth (Hanushek and Woessmann, 2010). Within the South African context, the question then becomes which level of education contributes the most towards its economy and thereafter, it is important to invest in the correct education level, whilst simultaneously creating opportunities for the absorption of this knowledge capital.
42 Additional results showed that the current throughput rate at South African Higher Education Institutions does not currently have a significant impact on the South African economy. Potential reasons for this could be that the current throughput rates are low, or that the subsequent absorption of the newly created knowledge capital is insufficient. Further research needs to be conducted to determine ways in which opportunities can be created for graduates within the South African context.
Furthermore, it is important to determine which education level contributes most to the South African economy. Thereafter, government should evaluate its current investment policies and determine whether the education level that contributes the most is sufficiently funded. In addition to this, government and business should co-operate and determine ways in which the knowledge capital being produced is adequately absorbed in order to optimise economic growth.
There are various factors within the South African context which must be considered when attempting to develop strategies to improve its economic growth. However, these strategies must be devised and implemented with the co-operation of the various stakeholder involved. Stakeholder theory states that it is important for firms to understand their purpose and for managers to understand their responsibility to the various stakeholder involved (Freeman, Wicks and Parmar, 2004). Thereafter, it is important for the firm to assess the power and interest of the vested stakeholders and to make decisions that will satisfy the needs of these stakeholders without purposefully causing any negative impacts (Freeman, Wicks and Parmar, 2004). The South African government needs to effectively engage the various stakeholder involved in order to remedy and improve the state of its economy.
Through adequate stakeholder engagement, mitigation strategies can be devised and implemented and in turn, the lives of South Africans can be improved in a sustainable manner.
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