Journal of Northeastern University(Social Science) ›› 2025, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (3): 131-141.DOI: 10.15936/j.cnki.1008-3758.2025.03.015

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Effects and Mechanisms of Higher Education Promoting the Growth of Regional Economy: Based on the Synergistic Perspective of Scale, Structure and Quality

Qingnian ZHAO, Ke LIU   

  1. School of Public Administration,South China University of Technology,Guangzhou 510641,China
  • Received:2024-05-27 Online:2025-05-25 Published:2025-06-17

Abstract:

The system theory is introduced to construct the theoretical presupposition that the scale, structure and quality of higher education could synergize to promote China’s economic development, and the panel data of 31 provinces and regions in China from 2005 to 2019 are empirically analyzed. The results show that the synergy of higher education’s system elements has a significant positive impact on regional economic growth; The impact of the synergy of higher education’s system elements on regional economic growth shows a regional heterogeneous pattern of “high in the south and low in the north”; The process of synergizing higher education’s system elements to promote regional economic growth exists in the process of upgrading industrial structure, scientific and technological innovation output, accumulation of human capital, and the process of promoting regional economic growth; There are four mechanisms of industrial structure upgrading, scientific and technological innovation output, human capital accumulation and consumption level enhancement in the process of promoting regional economic growth through the synergy of higher education’s system elements; There is mainly a “competitive relationship” among provinces and regions in the process of promoting economic growth through higher education. The findings can provide theoretical and policy references for promoting the construction of China’s higher education as a strong nation to enable the high-quality economic development.

Key words: higher education, regional economy, system element, economic growth, element synergy

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