Models of interaction between economic development and higher education

Modern trends in the country's economic development indicate an increasing influence of the higher education system on the dynamics of economic indicators. The article is devoted to analyzing and modeling the mutual influence of the country's economic development and the higher education system (HES) in the context of achieving sustainable development goals, taking into account differences in external conditions and opportunities. The main attention is paid to identifying the key indicators and patterns that shape the interaction of the national economy and the higher education system, as well as the development of economic and mathematical models that assess such interaction. A conceptual model of the interaction of HES and the level of development of the national economy has been developed, and a set of research hypotheses has been formed. Based on the dynamic analysis of a set of indices, retrospective trends in the development of economic and educational processes have been studied, and portraits of the development of Slovakia and Ukraine have been constructed. Factors reflecting the relationship between the development of the country's economic and educational systems have been identified; the lag structure and fractal nature of their mutual influence have been proven based on model experiments. The following mathematical tools were used: Granger Causality test - to determine the mutual influence and lags of such influence between the indicators of the national economy and HES; Lagged models are used to determine the relationships between factors; VAR models, impulse response, and dispersion analyses are used to study the degree of strategic interaction and assess the mutual influence of economic development and the HES. The obtained results form the basis for developing government approaches to developing, retaining, and attracting talent for long-term sustainable development and enhancing the country's competitiveness.