The expansion in the higher education sector: A tale of two regions

Resumen

The higher education sector has experienced an international boom in the last 30 years: an important number of universities have been created while the proportion of adults with higher education has doubled within this period. However, universities not only provide students with more human capital but also undertake research activities. In this paper we analyze whether or not the expansion in the number of universities is optimal from an aggregate ex- cellence point of view, taking into account that universities act strategically when competing for both teaching and research funds. In particular we focus on the role of the type of university (research versus non research oriented) in this comparison.