Do Economics and National Political Governance Influence Student-Enrolment at a Private Higher Educational Institution?

Abstract

Witter and Anderson have empirically established that structural adjustment has destroyed many social institutions as well as the agricultural sector in Jamaica. The current work aims to answer the following question, "Do intentional homicide rate, rape rate, and selected macroeconomic indicators such as inflation, unemployment, exchange rate (US $ to Jamaican dollar), and GDP per capita rates influence student enrolment at a Private Higher Educational Institution?" For the present study, data were taken from publications from government departments on macroeconomics and the online computer system at a Private Higher Educational Institution (1970-2016) [1]. Data were recorded, stored, retrieved, and analyzed, using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for Windows, Version 24.0. The level of significance that is used to determine statistical significance is less than 5% (0.05) at the 2-tailed level of significance [2]. The findings revealed that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita positively influences student-enrolment at the Private Higher Educational Institution and that it is the most significant predictor of student enrolment. The results also revealed that inflation, exchange rate, intentional homicide, and GDP per capita are predictors of student-enrolment, with these four independent factors accounting for 97.4% of the variability in annual enrolment at the Private Higher Educational Institution-GDP accounting for most of the variance in student enrolment (i.e. 90.6%). With continued dwindling market share of students, the Institution must diversify its product offerings to include the wider public and the government.