Canadian Council on Learning | Conseil Canadien sur l'Apprentissage

Question Scans

Question 21: How does post-secondary education contribute to the social well-being of British Columbians? 

Overview

The objective of this question scan was to determine the contributions that postsecondary education makes toward the social well-being of British Columbians. Searches applying a broad range of applicable terms to four major databases initially yielded 171 relevant documents. Subsequent examination of article abstracts reduced this number to 28. A search of government and professional organisation websites yielded an additional seven articles for a total of 35 articles.

The focus on social well-being or social good is generally a theoretical one, which then requires a set of variables to produce clear operational definitions. However, the likelihood that economic and employability factors contribute to social well-being appears to most researchers to be quite high. The documents included, therefore, offer an array of possible factors, which are suggested by researchers attempting to address post-secondary contributions or benefits to individuals, groups or society at large in British Columbia, Canada and the United States. We recommend that the report be reviewed as demonstrating the range of possible variables, based on research that was conducted, which are useful for defining what essentially is a philosophical term but which is quantifiably well within economic constructs. When the literature does not address the topic theoretically, it defines well-being from an economic standpoint, such as, employability, status of employment, and income, all of which are quantified as measures of achievement contributing to “wellness.”

Various quantitative articles from Canada and the U.S. lean predominantly toward demonstrating that a post-secondary education has an economic benefit. While improved employment opportunities and increased salaries are shown to be primary functions of post-secondary education, there are some articles that focus on increased participation in society or a measure of satisfaction either in life or employment. Some articles indicate a set of variables which include the following descriptors: reduced welfare dependency, lower crime rates, healthier lifestyles, and other social gains such as, increased volunteerism, charitable giving and participation in leadership of community organizations.

However, there are only a handful of empirical studies that address those variables to any degree. Most articles that were excluded were:

1. theoretical,
2. focussed on the wrong population, or
3. compared two or more programs within an institution to determine their benefit or outcome.

Though program comparisons were deemed not specific to the question, there were a few articles that address the comparison between applied vs. liberal arts degrees. Those articles were included because they seemed to relate to the notion that post-secondary has two distinct functions, namely job training and fostering personal growth. In short, the two functions handle the variables differently, namely job training (including technical or applied programs) predominantly operates to bring about economic returns, whereas liberal arts education predominantly operates to bring about individual and social benefits. Both outcomes may be argued to bring about social well-being, but without a clear operational definition of well-being, the findings may be considered generally speculative though highly informative.

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