Author(s)

Sami Alsulami

Islamic University of Madinah, Madinah, Saudi Arabia.

This study adheres to the education production research tradition, and estimates an exogenously interactive model where a measurable education outcome, namely student GPA, is specified in terms of classic resource inputs in a Saudi higher education setting. The objective of the study is to empirically identify the fundamental inputs to the education production process that are critical for Saudi higher education. This is imperative for education policy makers and standard setters in KSA. Toward this end, the contribution of this study to the extant literature is twofold: 1) estimating a parsimonious specification of the education production capital embodiment model within a Saudi higher education setting, and 2) empirically identifying critical inputs to the higher education process in Saudi Arabia at conventional significance levels. Once identified, those critical inputs may be policy managed with the goal of obtaining equal respective ratios of marginal products to input prices. The study is therefore instructed by the 2030 vision of Saudi Arabia and how it can be reflected upon in higher education. This can be materialized via evidence-based policy recommendations that reflect the fundamental economic principle of efficient allocation of resources.

Higher Education Output, Saudi Higher Education, Education Production Function

Alsulami, S. (2019) Drivers of Higher Education Output: Saudi Evidence and Analysis. Open Journal of Leadership, 8, 188-198. doi: 10.4236/ojl.2019.84010.