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By applying Amartya Sen's capability approach, this article questions the functionalist idea that suggests that education can precipitate economic growth and development. It will be argued that the freedom-centred perspective advances the concept of human capital and that it allows a deeper understanding of the relationship between higher education and human development in Mexico. This empirical-based article shows how an educational institution contributes to expanding its graduates' basic functionings (e.g. being able to acquire knowledge, being able to get a job in a short time, being able to change jobs and thus to improve earnings, being able to search for better opportunities). However, a further enlargement of human capabilities is restrained due to the lack of social and economic opportunities which are commonly neglected in the mainstream analyses on education, employment and development. The removal of such 'unfreedoms' demands a renovated perspective in which education can be seen as a factor - momentous as it is - that interacts continuously with contradictory forces within complex social settings.