The role of higher education in economic development and reducing the unemployment rate: a comparative study of developing countries

Education is the basic pillar and foundation of all-round development in any country. The impact of higher education on subject development is undeniable. Applicable education alignmentwith the industry and business in society is required to economic growth, however, the unbridled and unplanned increase of higher education institutions and the number of students is not the basis for achieving development. In this research, an attempt is made to investigate the effect of research and development costs in the higher education sector in developing countries on economic growth in three areas: the quantitative indicators of higher education, the application and efficiency of higher education, and the creation of employment. The method of this comparative study is quantitative and the data collection of the country of Uzbekistan has been analyzed using a statistical approach. The results of model estimation using the data of 2014-2023 for the country of Uzbekistan show that the amount of research and development expenses in the higher education sector has a positive and significant effect on economic growth. Also, in the estimated model, the amount of growth of the workforce and the amount of physical capital (non-cash capital of the company) have a direct impact on economic growth. The amount of research and development expenses in the higher education sector with the variable of applied education has the most impact on the growth of manpower and the amount of physical capital stock on the growth of the gross domestic product.