Analysis Of Higher Education Resource Allocation And Financial Efficiency Of Universities In China

The modernization of higher education is not only an important part of national modernization,but also a guiding determinant.It is a common practice in the world to rapidly improve the international status of first-class universities through the guidance of strategic government policy.Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China,Chinese higher education has laid an important foundation for national economic development through training and transporting talents for economic construction to scaling the world’s peak in scientific research,serving economic and social development,and inheriting cultural innovation,forming a development path of higher education with Chinese characteristics.In the development process of Chinese higher education,government-oriented policy such as key universities,regions and industries have become the important systematical basis of resource allocation,which plays a key role in improving the overall financial efficiency of universities.This study focuses on higher education resource allocation and financial efficiency of universities in China,and reveals the significant characteristics and operating rules of the resource allocation in Chinese higher education by using a large number of statistical data.Furthermore,this study deeply studies the theoretical system and mechanism of the strategic government policy driving resource allocation and then affecting the financial efficiency of universities.The findings have important theoretical and practical significance for promoting the overall development of Chinese higher education and national strategy,regional innovation,and industrial development in China.System plays a decisive role in determining the theoretical paradigm of Chinese higher education strategy-performance relationship.It not only determines the rules of higher education development,but also drives the industrial and resource base of higher education development,and ultimately has a vital impact on the development strategy of Chinese higher education and its financial efficiency.Based on the essential attributes and characteristics of higher education,this study improves the traditional strategic tripod theory of traditional enterprises based on the view of industries,resources or systems,and puts forward the analysis framework of university strategic tripod,which lays the foundation for the entire research.On the basis of an improved strategic tripod theoretical framework,this study takes the perspective of strategic government policy,putting forward the mechanism and comprehensive model of the influence of the guiding policies of key universities,key regions and key industries on the financial efficiency of universities respectively.According to the theoretical model,this study empirically tests the theoretical hypothesis of higher education resource allocation and financial efficiency of universities,realizes the organic correspondence between theoretical discussion and practical data,and puts forwards the relevant policy suggestions on optimizing resource allocation and improving financial efficiency of universities.This study is divided into eight chapters according to the “literature review-case description-theoretical analysis-empirical test-policy suggestions” progression of analysis.The research not only reveals the theoretical system and mechanism that the strategic government policy drives the allocation of higher education resources and then affect the financial efficiency of universities,but also provides empirical evidence for the financial efficiency of Chinese higher education from an empirical perspective.The findings provide effective policy suggestions for the connotative development strategy of Chinese higher education.The main work and contributions of this study include the following aspects:First,the current study systematically reviews the literature foundation in the fields of higher education resource allocation,financial efficiency of universities and the impact of government strategies on higher education,and explores the theoretical boundary and space in the analysis of financial efficiency of Chinese higher education.Based on the in-depth analysis of the resource allocation mode in the development of higher education,this article summarizes the roles played by the government and the market in the higher education resource allocation under different resource allocation modes,which lays a foundation for analyzing the impact of strategic government policy on the resource allocation.Meanwhile,in the discussion of input and output efficiency,considering the higher education as a complex system,involving such aspects as the macro,meso,and micro issues,knowledge attributes and non-profit of higher education determine the output efficiency needs to be demonstrated through more inclusive financial efficiency,including financial indicators and non-financial indicators.This article finally focuses on the higher education resources allocation and the financial efficiency of universities from the perspective of strategic government policy.On the macro level,the fusion and superposition of initial allocation and reallocation of resources are formed.On the micro level,the interaction between resource orientation and achievement output,resource input and performance output can be achieved due to influence and restriction,feedback,and adjustment.Second,based on statistical data,the current study systematically presents and analyzes the orientation characteristics of key universities,key regions and key industries in the allocation of higher education resources in China.(1)The study makes a statistical description for the classification and level of key universities,the combination of universities and the performance of China universities in the global ranking,finds that the structure of universities presents a pyramid system of different levels driven by the guiding policy of key universities.(2)The study investigates the regional distribution of higher education resources,and based on the Chinese higher education index,measures and compares the supply of higher education at the provincial level in terms of quantity and quality.It finds that the distribution of higher education resources is divided into coastal areas and inland areas,and there is a gradient difference between east,middle and west regions.(3)Based on a series of statistical data,the study analyzes the industry-oriented characteristics of higher education resource allocation,and finds that Chinese higher education itself is deeply affected by economic system reform and industrial policies,which in turn affects the allocation of higher education resources.Third,based on the improved university strategic tripod analysis framework,the current study establishes three comprehensive models about the influence of the key university-oriented policy,key regional-oriented policy and key industryoriented policy on the financial efficiency of universities,and deeply analyzes the action mechanism of their operation respectively.This study analyzes the systematical change and new systematical economic theory foundation,finds that by improving the traditional enterprise general strategy tripod analysis framework,taken the system as the decisive endogenous variable,based on system condition and change,industry competition,proprietary resources and ability,it can parse the formation of higher education strategy and the theoretical mechanism of influencing performance.(1)From the perspectives of industry foundation view based on the degree of competition,resource foundation view based on organizational characteristics and system foundation view based on national strategy,this study puts forward a comprehensive model of the key universities-oriented policy,and analyzes the mechanism of the key universities-oriented policy endowing key universities with identity symbol,forming reputation spillover effect and gaining continuous rolling support.(2)From the perspectives of industry foundation view based on co-construction,resource foundation view based on co-sharing and system foundation view based on co-progress,this study puts forward a comprehensive model of the key region-oriented policy,and analyzes the mechanism of the interaction between the key region-oriented policy and the universities’ innovation cluster function,the convergence and matching degree between the universities and the regional economic development.(3)From the perspectives of industry foundation view based on total process interconnection,resource foundation view based on total factor flow and system foundation view based on the total industrial chain reaction,this study puts forward a comprehensive model of the key industryoriented policy,and analyzes the mechanism of the key industry-oriented policy making the government,universities and enterprises form a three-helix innovation cluster.Based on the theoretical analysis,the theoretical hypothesis of determining mechanism of higher education resources allocation and financial efficiency of universities in China is proposed.Fourth,under the framework of improved strategic tripod theory,the current study empirically analyzes the impact of three different government-oriented policy on the financial efficiency of universities by using statistical data from universities and regions.(1)It empirically analyzes the influence of the key university-oriented policy on the financial efficiency of universities.This study selects 31 provinces(cities)from 2002 to 2019 as the research object,takes the scientific research and innovation level of universities as the breakthrough point,bases on the input-output index system,uses Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA)to calculate the financial efficiency of universities,and further conducts empirical test and mechanism analysis on the influence of the establishment of "Double First-class" universities on the financial efficiency of universities.At the same time,according to the four major economic zones and seven administrative geographical regions,this study conducts a sub-sample regression,and finds that university-oriented policy has a strong positive impact on the financial efficiency of universities,and the positive effects also show regional differences.(2)This study empirically analyzes the differential impact of the key region-oriented policy on the financial efficiency of regional universities.Based on the three important national and regional strategies of Yangtze River Delta,Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region,this paper makes a comparative analysis of the overall financial efficiency and its growth rate,sources of inefficiency,inter-regional and intra-regional differences of regional universities from 2007 to 2017.By using Tobit model,the financial efficiency of universities is taken as the explained variable,while such eight aspects as the level of regional economic development,population density,financial assets,are taken as explanatory variables.This study investigates the different influence paths of factors in different regions on the financial efficiency of universities,and finds that some are not consistent with the theoretical hypothesis.Through study and reflection,it further grasps the influential factors of the guiding policies in key regions on the financial efficiency of universities.(3)This study empirically analyzes the influence of key industry-oriented policy on the financial efficiency of universities.Based on the construction quasi-natural experiment of the ten strategic emerging industries revitalization plan implemented in China since 2009,the processing group was constructed by matching each industry in the ten strategic industries with the firstlevel disciplines involved in universities and combining the results of the fourth round of discipline evaluation to match the universities with A-level disciplines.The Differences-in-Differences(DID)is adopted to test and analyze the influence of key industrial policies on the financial efficiency of universities.It is found that the implementation of key industry-oriented policy has significantly improved the financial efficiency of universities,and further found that the positive impact also presents differences among university and regional differences.Fifth,based on theoretical analysis and empirical test,according to the actual situation of Chinese higher education resource allocation,the current study puts forward relevant policy suggestions to optimize the efficiency of financial resources in universities.(1)This study systematically and comprehensively summarizes the ideological system,major issues and vivid practices of the strategic government policy and efficient allocation of resources,and continuously enhances the theoretical confidence of Chinese higher education.(2)This study consolidates and improves the key university-oriented policy,insists on the government leading and social forces,and constantly improves the leading demonstration reputation of key universities.(3)This study consolidates and improves the key region-oriented policy,persists in the direction of regional overall planning and knowledge service,and constantly improves the integration degree of universities and key urban agglomeration construction.(4)This study consolidates and improves the key industry-oriented policy,adheres to the isomorphism of system improvement and construction,and constantly improves the compatibility of the layout between universities and emerging strategic industries.This current study focuses on the analysis of the impact of higher education resource allocation on the financial efficiency of universities,from the strategic policies of the government,investigates the influence of the macro-level government resource allocation mode on the financial efficiency of universities.By the combination of theoretical research and empirical test,this article tries to form characteristics and innovations in the following aspects:(1)This study innovatively constructs a comprehensive theoretical analysis framework to systematically study the strategic government policy driven resource allocation,thus affecting the financial efficiency of universities.Based on the essential attributes and characteristics of higher education,this study considers the system as the decisive factor of endogenous variable,improves the analysis framework of traditional enterprise general strategy tripod,which considers industry,resource and system as three parallel factors affecting strategy.It explores and puts forward a set of analysis framework of university strategic tripod which takes system as the core and resources and industry as the key points.This provides a theoretical basis for explaining and analyzing the formation of higher education strategy and ultimately driving the connotation development of financial efficiency of universities.(2)This study innovatively and systematically analyzes the mechanism of government strategic policies affecting the financial efficiency of universities,which provides a theoretical basis for exploring the changing laws of the financial efficiency of universities in the process of higher education resource allocation.On the basis of the improved strategic tripod theoretical framework,according to the main dimensions of government strategic policies,this paper puts forward the mechanism of the influence of key university-oriented policy,key regional-oriented policy and key industry-oriented policy on the financial efficiency of universities respectively.The study focuses on the use of data comparison and analysis,describes the evolution characteristics of higher education resources allocation in China.Meanwhile,it makes an in-depth analysis of financial efficiency by using the basic principles of financial management,and tries to put forward an index system for financial efficiency of universities which is different from the financial efficiency of enterprises.(3)This study innovatively puts forward the comprehensive model of key university-oriented policy,key regional-oriented policy and key industryoriented policy,and tested the hypotheses through empirical analysis.According to the three different oriented policies,DEA and DID analysis methods are used to test the effect of the policies,which realize the correspondence between theoretical analysis and practical data.Centering on realizing the goal of higher education modernization and serving the strategic needs of national modernization,this study systematically puts forward suggestions on improving the strategic government policy,which provides theoretical basis and practical direction for the further promotion.