Correlation between Tertiary Education Graduates by Field of Study and Economic Development—An analysis of European countries

Jarmila  Hojs Potočnik; Polona  Tominc

Jarmila Hojs Potočnik
Polona Tominc

Keywords: tertiary education, fields of study, GDP/capita.

Abstract

In this paper the correlation between the structure of graduates by study fields (using ISCED 1997 classification) and real GDP per capita is analyzed for the 25 countries of the European Union, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland. Although the relationship between education and economic development has been the topic of numero- us studies, results are often contradictory, and only a few studies have analyzed the structure of graduates by study fields of education. Our research results suggest that the structure of graduates by study fields correlates with the GDP per capita, where some negative and some positive correlations are identified.

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Author Biographies

Jarmila Hojs Potočnik

PhD student at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor, Slovenia
E-mail: jarmila.hojs@gmail.com

Jarmila Hojs Potočnik, MSc, graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Business’ finance and banking program at the University of Maribor. She continued her master’s degree with a special interest in the importance of the opinion of the graduates and employers about the applicability of the tertiary short-cycle study programs. Currently she is a PhD student in the economics and business sciences doctoral program. For many years she was employed mainly in the financial services. Later, she was employed in the education sector, where she currently works as a lecturer at colleges in the field of economics.

Polona Tominc

Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor, Slovenia
E-mail: polona.tominc@uni-mb.si

Polona Tominc, PhD, is a full-time professor in the Department of Quantitative Economic Analysis at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor. Her research is focused on statistical methods in economics. She has par- ticipated at more than 35 scientific and professional conferences and is the author of chapters in books and articles in scientific and professional journals published in Slovenia and abroad. She is participating in the DIANA network analyzing female entrepreneurship and is a team member of GEM Slovenia.

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