ERIC Number: EJ1124307
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Dec
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2255-7547
EISSN: N/A
Is Higher Education Economically Unsustainable? An Exploration of Factors That Undermine Sustainability Assessments of Higher Education
Maragakis, Antonios; van den Dobbelsteen, Andy; Maragakis, Alexandros
Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education, v7 n2 p5-16 Dec 2016
As students continue to review the sustainability of higher education institutions, there is a growing need to understand the economic returns of degrees as a function of a sustainable institution. This paper reviews a range of international research to summarize the economic drivers of higher education attainment. Although the cost inputs to higher education are fairly well understood, the economic return of a degree is not. Students misperception of economic returns coupled with a dynamic definition of employability create the framework for unsustainable debt loads for graduates. This paper proposes three metrics that can be used to assess the economic sustainability of students graduating higher education that can be used to supplement the broader definition of sustainability within higher education.
Descriptors: Higher Education, Sustainability, Economic Factors, Educational Attainment, Cost Effectiveness, Outcomes of Education, Student Attitudes, Misconceptions, Employment Potential, Definitions, Debt (Financial), College Graduates, Educational Assessment, Salaries, Education Work Relationship, Literature Reviews
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Information Analyses; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
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