Analyzing the Relationships among the Factors Affecting Educational Competitiveness: An Application of the Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Abstract

Abstract This study was conducted in order to investigate the relationships between different factors affecting educational competitiveness, which is crucial to enhancing national competitiveness in every country, and to put forward policy implications whereby each country may raise the level of its educational competitiveness. PISA score was selected as an indicator representing the educational competitiveness of OECD countries, and this included a number of independent variables, such as per capita GDP, total public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP, and total per capita public expenditure on education (US dollars), affecting educational competitiveness. We employed the structural equation modeling approach to analyze the complex causal relationships among the factors affecting educational competitiveness. The research results show that the significant factors affecting PISA are: edusys (educational system), puptec (pupil–teacher ratio), and privat exp (total expenditure on education by private source as a percentage of GDP), and that the most influential factor affecting PISA directly is edusys (the extent to which the education system meets the needs of a competitive economy). Finally, the study suggests that each country should endeavor to enhance its own educational competitiveness, considering how the factors associated with this relate to each other.