The impact of institutional quality, development assistance, ICT, and foreign direct investment on higher education

Achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, which focuses on providing inclusive and equitable quality education, remains a key priority for African governments. However, several factors—such as institutional quality, official development assistance (ODA), information and communication technology (ICT), education spending, and foreign direct investment (FDI)—can either support or hinder progress, particularly in improving higher education outcomes. Existing studies offer limited empirical evidence and rarely examine the combined effects of these factors on higher education. This study investigates how institutional quality, ODA, ICT, education expenditure, and FDI influence higher education enrolment in West Africa, a region with one of the lowest tertiary education enrolment rates globally. Using panel data from 12 West African countries between 2009 and 2020, the study applies fixed effects, random effects, and generalized method of moments (GMM) regression techniques. The findings reveal that ODA to the education sector, GDP per capita, and ICT development positively affect higher education enrolment, while FDI has a negative impact. Overall, the results highlight the importance of improving institutional quality, enhancing ICT infrastructure, and increasing targeted ODA to boost enrolment in higher education. Effective education policies, supported by economic growth and investment in ICT, are essential to achieving SDG 4 in West Africa and similar regions.