Impact of the Accreditation of Academic Programs of Higher Education Institutions on the Economic Development of Mexico: A Statistical Analysis

This study examines the relationship between the index of accredited academic programs (IPA) and five economic development variables in Mexico. The IPA is contrasted against indicators such as the poverty index, the human development index, the competitiveness index, poverty and social progress, to determine the influence of accredited programs on these variables. Statistical analysis was applied, which consisted of a correlation hypothesis test to evaluate the hypotheses raised, which deal with the relationship or not of the IPA with the aforementioned economic indicators. The results indicate a weak correlation between the social lag index and accredited programs, without a significant relationship with the human development index and the competitiveness index. Likewise, the IPA was not statistically correlated with social progress. A preponderant result, which does not exist in the literature in Mexico, is that in the hypothesis test of the IPA versus the poverty index, it turns out that both variables have a strong correlation, which implies that the IPA contributes strongly to the fight against poverty in the federal entities in Mexico.