Research On Regional Characteristic Of Higher Educational Population In China

Higher educational population is the total population who has completed the higher education, or is studying in the higher education system. The regional characteristic of higher educational population is the homogeneity in the region and the heterogeneity between the regions which relative to the factors of geographical condition and region etc. The research of higher educational population and its regional characteristic are an interdisciplinary area, which include demography, geography and higher education etc. The clue of dissertation is "regional process—regional reason—regional value—intending trend", and it answer the series of questions of what is the regional characteristic of higher educational population, why it is, how it is , how to evaluate and what it will to be.The increment of higher educational population in China is enormous since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, but the distribution of higher educational population is less. The sequence number of the gross and density of higher educational population sorted by provinces is stable, and the distribution of higher educational population by areas (south and north, east, center and west) is stable too. On the whole, the higher educational population is in south and north by half, in east and center-west by half, and it mainly centralizes in the southeast. From the change of trend, the centralized index of higher educational population descends before 1996, and then ascends. The research shows that the diversity of higher educational population will extend in the south and north, east and center-west, and the higher educational population flow to south, east obviously.The regional characteristic of higher educational population is the result of multiplex factors. The natural condition is the basal factor, the economic condition is the key factor, educational factor is very direct, social system is an important condition, and history culture is another important factor. Generally speaking, the proportion of higher educational population and the altitude is negative correlation, 80 percent of higher educational population live in the altitude of 500 meters below, and 65 percent below 100 meters. The higher educational population also centralizes in the plain and water area, 70 percent of higher educational population live in distance to coastline 600 kilometers below, and 50 percent below 200 kilometers. At the same time, the traffic advantage also benefits to the centralization of higher educational population. From the perspective of economy, the distribution of higher educational population and the gross economy is similar. Compare to the secondary industry, primary industry has less impact on the distribution of higher educational population, and the function of tertiary industry isn't notable. The educational factor affects the regional characteristic of higher educational population directly, and the distribution of higher educational population and the higher education is similar too. According to the regression analysis with multiplex factors, the regional characteristic of higher educational population could be explained 94.7 percent by the factors of the students in higher education system, GDP and mileage of highway. Apparently, the above factors act each other and they also be affected by numbers of other factors indirectly. In conclusion, the regional characteristic of higher educational population could be explained by educational and economic factors directly, but all the factors is based on the geographical condition.The imbalance of higher education in China is absolute, but the imbalance is not irrationality. The gross of higher educational population among the provinces is balanceable with the GINI method, but compare to the acreage, economy and mileage of highway, the balance is fluctuant. As a whole, the higher educational population is accordant to the factors of education and economy, and incongruous with the total population, acreage and traffic condition. According to the empirical analysis, although the imbalance of higher education in China is obvious, the distribution of higher education is reasonable.In the end, the dissertation put forward three suggestions: Firstly, it is urgent to define a new research space that is the research of higher educational population. Secondly, the administration should attach more importance to the rule of distribution for higher educational population when they write or perform the regional development planning. Thirdly, it is necessary to avoid the wrong value that the balance is reasonable.In conclusion, the change and trend of higher educational population and its regional characteristic is beneficial to developing knowledge and solving problems. The research of higher educational population will promote the cooperation of demography and higher education, and it also puts forward a lot of valuable problems for the next research.