Higher Education and Integral Development in Mexico

Abstract

Mexico’s school enrolment in the 2021-2022 school year corresponds to 5.07 million students (5.5 % in higher technical and normal levels; 86.2 % in bachelor’s degrees; 7.2 % in specialties and master’s degrees; 1.1 % in doctorates), representing 4 % of the total national population. The article is structured on the basis of the deductive method and with a quantitative archetype; itsobjective is to determine the correlation between the higher education student population and economic growth and human development. It is hypothesized that higher education will contribute significantly to the achievement of these objectives, in the first instance to try to achieve economic growth, and then to gain access to economic, social, sustainable and human development. The hypothesis was confirmed that in Mexico during the period from 2010 to 2022, the highest number of higher education students can explain 82.6 % of the variations experienced in the increase ofthe Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or economic growth. It was considered that the highest levelsof education in the country (doctorate and master’s degrees) would have a decisive influence on the increase in GDP (economic growth) and a better position in the Human Development Index(HDI), but it turned out that the most influential variable in the estimated linear regressions isenrolment at the bachelor’s degree.