The Impact of Investment in Education of Long Term Economic Development of a Nation - Research Proposal Example

Running Head: THE IMPACT OF INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF A NATION The Impact of Investment in Education of Long Term Economic Development of a Nation (Your Name) (Your School) Abstract This study will examine the overall impact of education and the rate of return on economic development of a country. The study will assess whether the overall impact of education has an effect on the rate of economic development of a country. It will specifically focus on the effect of implementation of education and its effect on the economic development of the country. The main independent variable for the study will be education achievement while the dependant variable will be the overall returns in terms of economic development. The samples for the study will be developing countries from which it will select a sample of 40 countries for the study which will be selected using random selection. The study will use access to education per 1000 children in each country. It will also measure the number of student per 1000 student who graduates from secondary education who is able to access tertiary education. For the dependant variable it will look at the return in terms of economic development. Research questions Do higher levels of educational achievement result in great economic development for developing counties? Core Empirical research hypothesis Education is important for the overall economic development of a country. As the government invests in provision education to its citizens, it increases the rate of economic development. Definition of variables Education achievement This research will use education achievement as the main independent variable. Education has been chosen as an independent variable it is closely related to the development of a nation. Return on development Return on development of a country will be used as the dependent variable. The development of a nation is contributed by many factors one of them being education. Sampling The samples for the research will be collected from countries in the developing world. The developing countries will provide the best case study that can be used to evaluate the relationship between investment in education and the overall return on the economic performance of the country. The research will sample 40 lesser developed countries to be used for the study. This regional consideration will be made in order to reduce bias in the study and capture the various factors that may affect economic development and education in these regions. The selection of the sample has taken into consideration the factor of imbalance in regional development which may be one of constrains in selecting sample countries for the study. The difference in development policies can also be a contract and therefore the research will take different countries from different regions to reduce the effect of development policies and the factor of external assistance. The sample size has also been collected in light of the limited time span for the study. The research would have been more valid if it collected data from a large sample. But this may not be limited by the time span for the study which allows it to carry an independent study of only 40 countries. Random sampling will then be used to select these countries. Random sampling will help to reduce bias in selection of the countries in each region. Operationalization of variables and data collection (i) Independent variable The research will collect data from the sampled countries on the level of access of education both primary and secondary education. The research wills connection on the number of children per 1000 children who are not able to access education. The research will use national education statistics data in each country but it will also use other data from international bodies link United Nations. The research will concentrate on education sector. It will collect data on the formal education both primary and secondary education in the sampled countries. These data will give an overall data on access of education in different countries and give the pattern of education continuity from primary through secondary levels. Primary and secondary education forms the basic of the education process. This will be in line with the focus of the research which is on the investment that has been made on increasing access to primary and secondary education and the impact on the overall economic development of the country. In order to develop a competent workforce, tertiary education must be taken into consideration. Therefore the study will collect data on access of tertiary education in the sampled countries and compared it with the level of access of primary and secondary education. It will look at the number of students that access tertiary education from 1000 students who graduate from secondary education. Vocation and technical education forms an important pillar in production of competent workforce that assist in the development of a country. (ii) Dependant variable The dependent variable for the study will be of return to development in light of the investment that has been made by the government in the education sector. The fist measures will be the effect on health standards. The study will also look at the poverty level in these countries. Using the measure of poverty level, the study will look at the percentage of people living below the poverty line and vice versa. Literature review According to the Japan ministry of education, culture, sports, science and Technology, education (2007) is one of the most important factors in the overall growth of a nation. It is based on the new economic and scientific creativity, skills and other factors in the labor force that translate to economic development of a nation. According to the research carried out by the ministry, education was seen as an investment that is supposed to translate of development in the longtime. The study identifies the miraculous transformation of the post war Japanese economy to the investment that had been made in education starting with Meiji Era. This study identifies the longtime invest in education that has been made in Japan for ninety years since the Meiji Era as the main factor for rapid transformation of Japanese economy. Therefore it calls for the need to continue investing in education for future growth. According to Robert Lynch (2007) investment in education is important for the future attainment of social economic development of a nation. Robert showed that investment in education is important public policy strategy that can helps a nation of generate wealth and achieve a number of social and economic developments objectives. National wide investment and commitment to provision of quality education secures the future of that nations and the future generation. A sound primary and second education system is important in achieving the overall education objectives of a country. However it is not enough to have in place effective primary and secondary education model but the country needs to invest in tertiary education to induce skills and expertise in the workforce. This will be important in helping a nation to develop a competent workforce (Fountain, 2006). Most of the countries in the developing nation in the developing world have been recovering low enrolment rates. Muntagadura and lamb (2003) found out that there are many factors that contribute to the rate of enrolment in school including the expenditure of the government in education, the urban population and other factors. This study also found out that most of the countries in the sub-Saharan region which had taken steps to increase their rate of enrolment have shown prospects of long-term economic growth as they have been able to develop a competitive workforce. This shows that government investment in education is important in translating to overall economic development. References Japan ministry of education, culture, sports, science and technology (2007): Japan Growth and education. Tokyo. Fountain, T. (2006): Tracing the Diasporas involvement in the development of a nation: the Case of Dominica. Lych, R. (2007): Enriching children, enriching the nation: public investment in high quality pre-kindergarten. Economic policy institute, May 2007 Mutangadura, G. & Lamb, V. L. (2003): Variation in rate of primary school access and enrolment in Sub-Saharan Africa: a pooled cross- country time series analysis. Annotated bibliography Japan ministry of education, culture, sports, science and technology (2007): Japan Growth and education. Tokyo. This research explores the path that Japan has made in investment in education. It explores how Japan has been invested in education since Meija Era and the economic benefits in development of competitive workforce that has led to growth in technology Fountain, T. (2006): Tracing the Diasporas involvement in the development of a nation: the Case of Dominica. The research looks that the various ways in which the immigrants have helped the country to develop economy since they came with various skills. While the country has not invested well in tertiary educing, it has benefited from the skilled workforce Lych, R. (2007): Enriching children, enriching the nation: public investment in high quality pre-kindergarten. Economic policy institute, May 2007. The research looks at how a nation can develop through investment in high quality education of its citizens. It traces the roots of economic development of a nation to the investment that is made to the kindergarten. The author asserts that high quality education is important in achieve of economic and social growth factors Mutangadura, G. & Lamb, V. L. (2003): Variation in rate of primary school access and enrolment in Sub-Saharan Africa: a pooled cross- country time series analysis. This study looked at the variation in school enrollment in sub-Saharan Africa. It explored various factors that could be held responsible for this variation. The study also asserts that sub-Saharan region has been left behind due to lack of investment in education. Read More