ABSTRACT
Higher education contributes to economic growth by supplying the skills needed for the labour force through its teaching programme and the new ideas needed for technical progress through its research programme. The research findings of academic staff that lead to technical progress are not only the obvious ones that produce more efficient hardware and software in the short and long run but also those that result in more efficient work practices. The research contribution is through its direct use by society and the paid and unpaid work that academics perform for industry, government and voluntary organisations. The study of economic development provides an excellent example of the need to question the application of something in an environment and context different to those from which it was derived and for which it was applied originally. This is the doubt cast in the 1950s on the usefulness of Western economic theory for developing countries.
