Kristinn with the masters students outside the Department of Economics building, Chancellor College
Kristinn with the masters students outside the Department of Economics building, Chancellor College
Work is under way at the Fraser of Allander Institute, Department of Economics, to apply modelling approaches developed within the HEI's Impact initiative to estimate the overall economic impacts of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Malawi.
Although a relatively small scale project, it has made significant progress. A computable general equilibrium (CGE) model has been calibrated on Malawi data, released by the World Bank to the FAI. Tentative results suggest that even with the relatively modest scale of higher education institutions in Malawi, their supply side impact - through providing skills in the labour market - could be substantial.
Drawing on CGE models to simulate the supply-side impacts of higher education is a new development, hitherto only undertaken for the UK and Australia, and applying it to the case of a developing country marks a significant milestone. The work is being carried out by PhD student Mr Kristinn Hermannsson under the supervision of professors Kim Swales and Peter McGregor.
Kristinn visited the Department of Economics and Chancellor College, University of Malawi, in February and the administrative offices of the University of Malawi to gain from the feedback and input of local experts. He was then invited to present his results at a seminar in the Economics department.
The HEIs Impact work for Malawi is being funded under a grant from the Icelandic International Development Agency (ICEIDA) with additional support from the Fraser of Allander Institute. The research also draws on the HEI Impacts Initiative. Strathclyde's strong links with the University of Malawi means various Strathclyders have helped out both formally and informally.