The Role of Higher Education in a Nation's Economic Development

The need often arises to explain and control, as much as possible, those phenomena and processes in the economy that can reflect more or less favourable situations. For that purpose, a range of efficient instruments are devised to help us explain the existing situations and eliminate (or at least reduce) the undesired effects that may arise in a given economic context. We have employed econometric models to evince the role of the public higher education sector in generating economic growth and, based on this, to prove the need for further sustained public funding of higher education. The change of mindset regarding the participation of the private environment in the funding of higher education in Romania is the first step that should be taken in order to build awareness that a properly funded higher education will generate progress across the board in the long run.