Socio-Economic Development and Education

Instructor: Nikolaos Mylonidis
Professor, University of Ioannina

The environment, individual well-being, and employment form the foundation of a country's development model. While discussions often center around poor and wealthy nations, environmental respect, and climate change, they rarely focus on the development model itself. A country’s development model is not only reflected in economic indicators such as GDP but also in socio-economic indicators like poverty rates, inequality levels, and access to adequate sanitation. Importantly, a development model is not fixed; it depends on a variety of factors and the interaction between them.

The aim of this course is to explore the role of education in the socio-economic development of countries. Education is both a fundamental human right and a key development goal. Furthermore, education contributes to a range of additional important development objectives, such as promoting economic growth, modernizing societal attitudes, increasing life expectancy and improving health, encouraging political socialization, fostering a sense of social responsibility, reducing social and gender inequalities, enhancing social mobility, and supporting personal development and empowerment.

 Thematic Units Covered in This Course:

• Basic principles and concepts of economic development (development status, measurement methods, and development indicators)
• Development and human well-being (poverty, vulnerability, inequality, and injustice)
• Explaining development (classical economic development theories and modern models of development and underdevelopment)
• Human capital, technology, and development (how education, technology, and health influence development)
• Population, education, and socio-economic development
• Education, migration, and development
• Theoretical frameworks on education’s contribution to economic development and indicators of educational development
• Educational performance in developed and developing countries
• Problems and challenges of modern educational policy
• The role of higher education in the knowledge economy

Bibliography:

• Todaro, M. P. & Smith, S.C. (2022). Economic Development. Tziola Publications.
• Taylor, J. E. & Lybbert, T. J. (2016). Development Economics. Kritiki Publications.
• Gillis, M., Perkins, D.H., Roemer, M., & Snodgrass, D.R. (2011). Economics of Development. Typothito – Giorgos Dardanos.
• Szirmai, A. (2015). Socio-Economic Development. Cambridge University Press.