It is widely recognized that the economic success of local, regional and national economies depends increasingly on education and skills. In recent years, various countries across the world have introduced a series of deep reaching reforms to their education and training systems. The prime motivation has been the belief that the development of an economy’s human capital is one of the most, if not the most, effective routes to improve national economic performance. In additional, rapid technological advance and the emergence of the information society have instigated a number of fundamental changes to how work is organized. This paper aims to assess the economic and social influence of higher educational institutions on the regional development in Greece. The research focused on the west part of Greece.