Digital Connectivity, Access Infrastructure, and the Global Expansion of Higher Education

Abstract

The global expansion of higher education over recent decades has coincided with an equally rapid expansion of digital connectivity, yet the literature has less frequently examined whether both processes are systematically associated at the country level. This study examines whether digital access infrastructure, measured through three complementary indicators (internet users, fixed broadband, and mobile telephony), predicts gross tertiary enrollment, and whether this association is homogeneous across income groups and levels of inequality. Using a cross-sectional panel of 163 countries drawing on World Bank data, robust regression models (HC3), a non-parametric between-income-group test, and two interaction models were estimated. Fixed broadband was the strongest predictor of tertiary enrollment (β = 1.09, p < .001), followed by the percentage of internet users (β = 0.29, p = .011) and mobile phone penetration (β = 0.10, p < .001), even after controlling for GDP per capita and government effectiveness. Contrary to the leapfrogging hypothesis, the return of mobile telephony on tertiary enrollment was not larger in low-income countries; it was significantly smaller than in high-income countries. Income inequality (Gini index) did not significantly moderate the relationship between connectivity and tertiary enrollment. These findings position fixed broadband infrastructure, rather than mobile connectivity, as the digital divide component most consistently associated with the global expansion of higher education.