A Growing Gap ?

The regional distribution of higher education resources is the focus of our society.Since the new century,the change in the number of newly established ordinary colleges and universities in China has not effectively balanced and coordinated the regional differences in the development of higher education.On the contrary,the gap in the evolution of the regional distribution of the development of higher education in China is gradually moving away.One of the important reasons is that the higher education management system,which is managed by the central and provincial governments and dominated by the provincial government,formed in 2000,has caused changes in the relationship between the central and local governments,resulting in a series of changes in the behavior of local governments.The difference order pattern theory and political tournament theory build an appropriate and scientific theoretical framework to explain the evolution of the regional distribution of China’s higher education development since the new century.The spatial imbalance of the regional distribution of higher education development is the logical starting point of this study,and reducing and utilizing this imbalance is the logical end point of this study.The data of this study comes from the publicity of newly established colleges and universities and officially established colleges and universities after preparation and "de preparation" published by the development planning department of the Ministry of education,the relevant data of newly established ordinary colleges and universities over the years in the national list of colleges and universities from 2003 to 2020,and the relevant data information about the historical evolution of the official websites of newly established ordinary colleges and universities.Based on the combination of new construction,upgrading,merger and renaming,this paper discusses the changes in the number of newly established ordinary colleges and universities.According to the specific definition of the regional concept,this paper analyzes the evolution of the regional distribution of China’s higher education development from 2003 to 2020 from the perspective of four spatial dimensions: the province,the three regions of the East,the middle and West,the four geographical divisions of the south,the north and the northwest Qinghai Tibet region,and the eight comprehensive economic zones divided by the State Council,Explore its temporal and spatial evolution mechanism.The findings of this study are as follows: first,the number of newly established ordinary colleges and universities rises occasionally in the fluctuation and decline,and the change is obvious in the initial stage of popularization;Second,there is an obvious trend of diversification in the school running system and discipline layout of newly established ordinary colleges and universities;Third,the gap in the regional distribution of newly established ordinary colleges and universities is gradually moving away.The system,policy and administrative environment are the core causes of the evolution of new ordinary colleges and universities;the influence of the existing foundation of the historical development of regional higher education;the restriction of the development logic of higher education itself.Considering the reasons,this evolution can be explained by the following two theories: one is the theory of differential order pattern;The second is the theory of political championship.Based on the analysis of the reasons,this study puts forward three suggestions to promote the development of Regional Higher Education: first,from the national level,optimize the higher education management system and implement the regional compensation policy;Second,from the regional level,combined with their own advantages,to form regional development characteristics;Third,based on the educational level,follow the logic of the self-development of the higher education system.