Education and competencies within Belt and Road countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between education and competencies
from a comparative view, while controlling for background characteristics (e.g. parental education), home
features (e.g. income) and country fixed effect.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper utilises an international data sets of 12 Belt and Road (B&R)
countries participating in the PIAAC survey. Data are examined using regression models with “REPSET”
Stata code. The focus on B&R countries is interesting as this recent economic and strategic development
alliance might transform the contemporary global balance of power. Therefore, examining its educational
development is important.
Findings – Findings reveal the higher the level of education, the higher the competency level in numeracy
and literacy. Age was found to be negatively related to competencies, and gender was found to be dually
significant. Among the examined B&R countries, Slovenia, Russia and Israel contribute the most to the
numeracy, literacy and problem solving competencies (respectively) compared with other countries. The
findings might contribute to the design of education for development policies aimed at increasing the level of
state competitiveness while accounting for social cohesiveness.
Originality/value – The paper provides a comparative study into educational development of the B&R
alliance, and therefore offers an insight of the developmental cooperation as it emerges. The focus on the B&R
initiative is important as it is a strategic development alliance which might transform the contemporary
global balance of power. Therefore, the examination of the above-mentioned relationships with the focus on
B&R countries might advance the strategic design of this cooperation.