Research On The Relationship Between The Higher Education And China Economic Growth

According to the guidance of economic growth theory, human capital theory, and the theory of mass higher education, based on the analysis of the status quo of China’s higher education and international comparison, this paper, focusing on the relationship between higher education and economic growth, attempts to make an intensive study on three aspects, interaction between Chinese higher education scale and economic growth, correlation degree between education structure and industrial structure, coordination degree between higher education and regional economic growth, via using analysis methods and tools such as co-integration analysis, gray relational analysis, coordination degree model, etc. The main content includes the following aspects:firstly, to review and sort relevant literature as the reference and theoretical guidance; secondly, to look back on the process of the popularization of China’s higher education, by which the situation on the size and funding of higher education is analyzed, and are compared with the major developed countries and the "BRICS countries"; thirdly, adopting co-integration analysis and Granger causality test to measure the interaction between higher education scale and economic growth before and after the increase of enrollment; fourthly, to start from a structural point of view to measure the correlation degree between higher education level and field structure and industrial structure by using Grey Relational Analysis; fifthly, coordination model is introduced from the perspective of the layout on higher education to measure the coordination degree between higher education and regional economic growth, by which to assess the higher education layout. In conclusion, the related policy recommendations are proposed in order to provide the theoretical basis and reference for the sustained and healthy development of China’s higher education.Innovation of this paper is mainly reflected in the following four areas:Firstly, this paper tries to enrich and develop the analytical framework of the research on the relationship between higher education and economic growth. Most existing studies focus on the rate of contribution of higher education to economic growth, relationship between the size or funding of higher education and economic growth. However this paper measures the interaction between higher education and economic growth from the perspective of size, measures the correlation degree between higher education structure and industrial structure from a structural perspective, conducts research on the coordination degree between higher education and regional economic growth from a layout perspective, in order to provide a more comprehensive analysis of ideas and frameworks for following studies.Secondly, this paper expands research on the relationship between higher education and economic growth. This paper measures the interactive relationship between higher education scale and economic growth in an innovative way by consider the year of1999as a dividing line, the development of China’s higher education since the reform and opening up is defined as the stable period and the rapid expansion period, to measure the interaction in the two periods by using co-integration analysis and Granger Causality Test to evaluate the effect of higher education enrollment increase. In addition, this paper measures the correlation degree between higher education hierarchy and discipline structure and industrial structure based on external law of higher education theory and industrial structure theory, through which broadens the perspective of the research on the relationship between higher education structure and economic growth. Besides, this paper assess the higher education layout creatively through the coordination degree between higher education and regional economic growth and provide a new prospective for relevant research.Thirdly, this paper enrich the tolls and methods of research on the relationship between higher education and economic growth. According to the actual needs of different sections of the study, this paper specifically chooses Co-integration Analysis and Granger causality test in Econometrics, gray correlation analysis and coordination degree model in Systems Science, Principal Component Analysis, Analytic Hierarchy Process, Entropy Method, Comprehensive Evaluation Index System in Multivariate Statistical Analysis, etc. to research on relevant subjects, which demonstrates more diversified research methods compared with similar thematic papers.Fourthly, novel conclusions were drawn from the research. Through empirical analysis, this paper holds that China’s higher education scale is not excessive; the source of funds for China’s higher education showed a typical "dual structure"; the effect of the expansion of higher education in China is worthy of recognition; the structure of higher education is not reasonable, which is incompatible with the adjustment of industrial structure and leads to structural over-education; Under the imbalanced development strategy, China’s higher education layout is imperfect and the distribution of higher education resources seriously out of balance. The coordination degree of regional and provincial higher education and economic growth presents "Matthew effect", the level of higher education has a major impact on the coordination degree. Based on the relatively innovative conclusions, some suggestions are proposed which could guide the practice and inspire the follow-up study.