THE ROLE OF TERTIARY EDUCATION IN THE ARCHITECTURE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

In the current transformation of nations where all economic, social, political and civic pillars, experienced a new dynamic in trying to adapt to present conditions, contribution of higher education is becoming more evident in Romanian society. Universities have often been perceived as the key institutions in the processes of social change and development. The most explicit role universities have been assigned consisted of highly skilled labor productivity and conducting research processes to meet perceived economic needs of society. Higher education not only contributes to the formation of skilled workers, but also creates a workforce eager to acquire new knowledge that contributes to growth and social and economic development. Higher education creates new attitudes, makes vision changes necessary for the socialization of individuals, for modernization and transformation of societies.

The need to draw attention to the importance of the human element brings to the fore the need for human resource development from the perspective of learning and lifelong self-improvement. Establishing the relationship between higher education and economic growth was based on an analysis of the link between them for a longer period of time, over 40 years, in the period 1971-2013 for the countries UK, Poland, Sweden, Korea South and Romania, using participation rates in tertiary education (School Enrollment Ratio, tertiary -% gross) as an indicator for assessing the changes in higher education and the Gross Domestic Product per capita (expressed in dollars per capita) as an indicator of economic growth. Choosing the five countries included in the research is justified by the investments made in education correlated with economic growth related to these countries.