Research On The Coupling Relationship Between Higher Education Structure And Industrial Structure In Yangtze River Delta

The research of the relationship between higher education structure and industrial structure(hereinafter referred to as “two structures”)is an important issue in the field of macroeconomic policy research in education.The higher education structure focuses on the structure of general higher education levels,subjects and types;the industrial structure focuses on industrial structure upgrading,industrial structure coordination and industrial structure diversification;the “two structures” coupling relationship refers to the mutual interdependence,mutual coordination and mutual promotion of the “two structures” in the evolution process based on a certain logical connection.The Yangtze River Delta(hereinafter referred to as “YRD”)is one of the most economically active regions in China as well as has excellent higher education resources.In the context of the integrated development of Yangtze River Delta as a national strategy,the study on the coupling relationship between the two structures of Yangtze River Delta will not only help the higher education of Yangtze River Delta to optimize the talent supply structure in response to the national demand,but also help the Yangtze River Delta to take advantage of its comparative advantages and resource endowment and occupy a favorable position in the new round of global industrial and technological competition.It will also help the YRD to take advantage of its regional comparative advantages and resource endowments and occupy a favorable position in the new round of global industrial technology competition.The dissertation draws on the paradigm of Harvard School of industrial economy analysis and constructs a research framework of “two structures” analysis,coupling relationship and its behavioral effects analysis,and policy improvement analysis of YRD(hereinafter referred to as “SCP analysis framework”).The core questions of this study are as followings: why and how to improve the coupling relationship between the“two structures” in the YRD.Based on the existing research,the dissertation uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods to address the above questions and obtains the following findings.First,there is a theoretical possibility for the formation of the “two structures”coupling relationship.Marx's economic thought on education as well as Brubacher's philosophical view on higher education and human capital theory have confirmed the inevitability and necessity of the formation of “two-structure” coupling relationship:the structure of higher education is subject to the industrial structure and can promote the optimization of the industrial structure.However,each of the “two structures” has its own evolutionary law,so the theoretical “two-structure” coupling relationship will still maintain a certain tension.Secondly,the characteristics and main problems of the evolution of the “two structures”(Structures)in the YRD are:(1)the center of gravity of higher education hierarchy has shifted upward significantly,the proportion of enrollment in engineering,management and literature in general colleges and universities is in the forefront,and the number of application-oriented colleges and universities and their proportion of enrollment occupy the main position.(2)The industrial structure has changed from“secondary-primary-tertiary industry” to “tertiary-secondary-primary industry”.The industrial structure of the YRD has been upgraded initially,the level of industrial structure coordination has been steadily increased,and the diversified development of industrial structure has shown a good trend.(3)Compared with New York metropolitan area,the center of gravity of higher education level structure in YRD is significantly lower than the latter.The general colleges and universities in the YRD have comparative advantages in the cultivation of engineering talents;however,there is a big gap with the latter in the field of medical talents cultivation.The number of researchoriented colleges and universities in the YRD and their proportion of enrollment are also far lower than the latter.In terms of industrial structure,the industrial structure of New York metropolitan area has been highly service-oriented,and the value added of its tertiary industry accounts for a much higher proportion than that of YRD.(4)At present,the following problems still exist in the “two structures” of the YRD: ?1 there is a shortage of high-level human capital required for the development of high-tech industries;?2 the professional quality structure of the higher education workforce is not well matched with the three industries;?3 there is a structural shortage of different types of talents required for the development of diversified industrial clusters.The above findings indicate that the “two structures” of the YRD still need to be further optimized.Thirdly,the research findings on the coupling relationship of the “two structures”and the interaction effect between its internal elements are as follows:(1)The mean values of the coupling degree and coupling coordination degree of “two structures” are0.683 and 0.387 respectively.The structure of higher education lags behind the evolution of industrial structure,especially the structure of institution type seriously restricts the improvement of the coupling relationship of “two structures”.(2)Using Pearson product-difference correlation analysis,co-integration analysis and panel data regression analysis,the interaction effects of the “two structures” coupling in YRD are revealed: ?1 The expansion of higher education in YRD is conducive to the rapid increase of the proportion of value added in non-agricultural industries,and the expansion of graduate student enrollment has a significant positive relationship with secondary and tertiary industries.The expansion of graduate student enrollment has a significant positive relationship with secondary and tertiary industries.?2 The Granger causality test shows that the higher education hierarchy and the advanced human capital structure of higher education are the Granger causes of the upgrading of industrial structure in YRD.The intermediate effect test shows that the human capital structure of higher education is a mediating variable between the hierarchical structure of higher education and the upgrading of industrial structure.?3 There is a time-series smoothness between the enrollment of disciplines related to the three industries as a whole and the share of the three industries in GDP,and there is an endogenous correction mechanism with its corresponding industries.the results of Moore structural value analysis show that the value of the level of coordinated development of industrial structure is more variable,while the active degree of higher education section structure is relatively small,and the latter lags the former by about 5 years.?4 Research universities are more helpful in promoting the development of industrial structure diversification.To reduce the Gini coefficient of industrial structure,it is necessary to further improve the academic level of academic research universities and applied research universities in YRD.Finally,with reference to the framework and criteria for constructing the ideal“two structures” coupling relationship and analyzing the factors influencing the real“two structures” coupling relationship,some policies for improving the “two structures”coupling relationship are proposed.(1)Based on Hayek's view on “the use of knowledge in society”,we propose a framework and criteria for analyzing and evaluating the ideal “two structures” coupling based on two dimensions of knowledge production and knowledge consumption.(2)Using OLS econometric model analysis,the influencing factors of the coupling relationship of “two structures” are mainly:the ratio of students to teachers in higher education,the ratio of supply and demand of talents in higher education,the cost profit rate of industrial enterprises,the Thiel index,the degree of technology-intensive intensification,the index of industrial structure diversification,the level of socio-economic development and the growth rate of R&D expenditure of industrial enterprises above the scale.(3)The improvement of the coupling relationship of “two structures” must follow the principles of dynamism,nonequilibrium and the combination of market regulation and government control,and can be done in the following five aspects: ?1 reasonably set the enrollment scale of colleges and universities to ensure the relative adequacy of the total supply of talents;?2increase the proportion of graduate students enrollment to promote the center of gravity of the hierarchy moderately;?3 dynamically adjust the proportion of enrollment in relevant subjects in the light of the development needs of three industries;?4 guide the diversified development of college types with the guidance of classification and evaluation reform;?5 adhere to the concept of common construction and sharing of universities and promote the deep cooperation among the government,colleges and universities and industries.