A Study On Science And Technology Innovation Efficiency Of China's Agricultural Universities

In the era of knowledge economy,the ability of scientific and technological innovation has become the key to the developmental and competitive advantages of universities.In recent years,with the development of national science and technology innovation system and proposal of innovation-driven strategy,China has basically formed an innovation system which is based on government,enterprises,research institutes and universities,as well as the technical innovation supporting service systems.Universities are one of the main bodies of national science and technology innovation system.With the implementation of a series of major strategic measures such as the “985 Project,” “211 Project,” “2011 Plan,” and “Double First-rate,” universitis have made major breakthroughs in their scientific and technological innovation capabilities.China's agricultural science and technology resources are relatively limited.There are still phenomena existing in agricultural universities such as unbalanced and wasted resource allocation.Reasonable resource utilization and allocation are important guarantees for agricultural universities to obtain sustained and stable scientific research output.How to reasonably and effectively allocate limited agricultural science and technology resources and maximize the scientific and technological innovation efficiency in agricultural universities is a problem that needs to be solved urgently.Therefore,it is necessary to conduct relevant research and analysis on the science and technology innovation efficiency in agricultural universities and provide direction for the development of science and technology innovation activities in agricultural universities.This paper firstly sorts out the basic situation and trend of input and output of science and technology innovation activities in agricultural universities,then DEA model is employed to measure the science and technology innovation efficiency of agricultural universities.On the basis of comparing differences from different levels,regions and types of agricultural universities,this paper puts forward hypotheses and establishs an econometric model to empirically test different influnencing factors' impact on the science and technology innovation efficiency.Results show as follows:1.Input and output of "985" and "211" agricultural universities are higher than those of non-"985" and "211" universities;input and output of agricultural universities in eastern region are higher than those in central and western regions;the input of agricultural universities is below the overall universities' average,but the output is higher than the average level of all universities.2.The science and technology innovation efficiency of agricultural universities showed a trend of increasing first and then fluctuating and decreasing during 2008-2016.The change of TFP in agricultural universities is due to the combined effect of technical efficiency and technological progress efficiency;most agricultural universities are in a volatility and low growth type,accounting for 72.2% of the total.The TFP of agricultural universities is higher than the TFP of overall universities,because the state has accelerated the advancement of agricultural science and technology innovation and implemented the comprehensive reform of agricultural and forestry education in universities;The TFP of agricultural universities in the east region is significantly higher than those in the west region,mainly because the east region has strong advantages in economy development,infrastructure construction,and talent concentration;TFP of “985” and “211” agricultural universities is significantly higher than Non-"985" and "211" universities,because "985" and "211" agricultural universities have more diversified external resources,which makes it easier to obtain more scientific and technological resources.There are "chasing effects" among different types,regions,and levels of agricultural universities,and TFP approaches to a steady state level.3.The science and technology innovation efficiency in agricultural universities is affected by both internal and external factors.Internal factors include high vocational talent structure,school-enterprise collaborative innovation,and awards for scientific and technological achievements.External factors include the “985” and “211” project construction and technological innovation policies.The empirical results show that there is a significant positive correlation between high vocational talent structure,school-enterprise collaborative innovation,"985" and "211" project construction,technological innovation policies with the efficiency of agricultural universities;"2011 Plan" enhances these influencing factors' degree of impact of science and technology innovation efficiency.Finally,this paper puts forward the policy suggestions to improve the science and technology innovation efficiency of agricultural universities: improve the scientific and technological resources allocation efficiency in agricultural universities,and establish a multi-level research funding mechanism;scientifically plan high vocational talent introduction,establish a reasonable personnel training and introduction mechanism,give play to the promotion effect of agricultural science and technology innovation policy,improve the adaptability of science and technology innovation policy;strengthen the " Double First-rate " construction,improve the research level and innovation ability of agricultural universities.