Economic Determinants of the Demand for Higher Education in Jordan: An Econometric Study (1990 – 2010)

The main aim of this study is to investigate the economic determinants of the demand for higher education at public universities in Jordan during the period 1990-2010. A co-integration analysis with four explanatory variables is used. Unit root tests have been employed to test the integration order of variables. For the purpose of supporting the results, the dynamic relationships among the variables are explained through presenting the variance decomposition of the dependent variables. The empirical results of the study are found to be in accord with the results of the previous studies and support the main hypothesis of the study. Results show that the real disposable income, and real government support affect positively the demand for higher education in public universities, whereas the effect of the consumer price index as a proxy for education cost, and unemployment rate is found to be negative.