The Cooperativity and Spatial Network Relationship Between Regional Economic Quality Development and Higher Education Scale in China

Miaomiao Liu, Shengbo Liu (), Yinuo Xu (), Jiahui Jin and Wanyu Liu
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Miaomiao Liu: School of Maritime Economics and Management, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116024, China
Shengbo Liu: Graduate School of Education, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Yinuo Xu: School of Finance, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian 116025, China
Jiahui Jin: School of Maritime Economics and Management, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116024, China
Wanyu Liu: School of Economics and Management, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, Liuzhou 545616, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: The sustainable development of regional higher education is closely related to the level of regional economic development. There is a close interdependence between higher education and economic development. Based on data from 31 provinces in China in 2022, this study uses the entropy method to construct an evaluation index system to explore the coupling and coordination relationship between the regional economy and the development of higher education, as well as the social network effects presented by various regional cities. The results indicate the following: (1) there is a trend of a more coordinated relationship between economic development and the development of higher education in the eastern region compared to the western region, exhibiting a pattern of “higher in the east and lower in the west”; and (2) the economic development and the scale of higher education in East China and Central China are coordinated, and some provinces have played a role in bridging and internal and external linkages in the spatial network effect, economic development, and the scale of higher education in some provinces in Northwest and Southwest China to moderate the imbalance and weak internal and external linkages in the spatial network. Exploring the compatibility between the scale and structure of higher education and economic development is not only of guiding significance for promoting the regional layout and development of higher education in China, but also has an important reference value for economic structural adjustment and transformation.

Keywords: higher education; regional economic development; social network effect; coordinating relations; education economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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