Relationships among the Factors Which Affect Educational Competitiveness

Abstract

This study aims to identify the relationships among different factors which affect educational competitiveness, and to suggest policy implications for educational policy makers to be able to raise the level of their educational competitiveness. PISA score as an indicator representing the educational competitiveness of OECD countries was selected, 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. This study 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.