An Empirical Study On The Contribution Of Higher Education Scale To Regional Economic Growth

The relationship between higher education and regional economic growth has been widely concerned and studied by economists and educationalists in domestic and foreign,and scholars generally agree that there is a complementary and mutually reinforcing relationship between higher education and regional economic growth.The expansion of higher education in China contributed to economic growth for a period of time after the implementation of the university expansion policy in 1999.As our society enters a new stage of development,there is an incongruity between the scale of higher education and regional economic growth,and the development of the scale of higher education in some regions has not contributed to economic growth as it should.As one of the comprehensive revitalization of the old industrial bases in Northeast China and a large province of higher education,Liaoning Province has a good locational and representative character to analyze the contribution of its higher education scale inputs to the added value of economic growth,and taking it as the research object helps to improve the understanding of regional higher education scale in serving local economic growth.Liaoning Province can also seize the opportunity of economic development brought by the 14 th Five-Year Plan and the new round of double first class construction of colleges and universities to adjust and optimize the scale of regional higher education and thus enhance regional economic growth.This study examines the scale of higher education and economic growth in Liaoning Province,based on data from the relevant statistical yearbooks from 1999 to 2019,the development of higher education scale and economic growth in Liaoning Province is analyzed descriptively,and the relationship between higher education scale and economic growth in Liaoning Province is studied empirically using econometric methods,the measurement model is constructed by combining the traditional CD production function and Denison,s factor analysis,and the contribution rate of higher education scale to economic growth in Liaoning Province,the whole country and neighboring provinces and cities from 1999 to 2019 is calculated specifically by using the education composite index method.By comparing the calculated results,the degree of contribution of the scale of higher education to economic growth in Liaoning Province was derived.It is found that the contribution of higher education scale to regional economic growth in Liaoning Province is low due to insufficient high-level institutions and cultivation platforms,lack of high level teachers,unreasonable internal hierarchical structure of higher education,inappropriate setting of college disciplines and industrial structure,serious loss of graduates,insufficient investment in higher education funding and new infrastructure construction and management of colleges to be optimized.In order to further improve the contribution of higher education scale in Liaoning Province to regional economic growth,colleges should continue to take the path of connotative development and reasonably allocate regional higher education resources;introduce high level talents while improving the teaching level of college teachers;optimize the internal structure of higher education to balance the cultivation scale of each level;adjust the structure of college disciplines to meet the needs of industrial transformation and upgrading;create a good employment environment to increase the stock of graduates;increase investment in colleges and raise education funds through multiple channels;promote the construction of new infrastructure of colleges and carry out scientific management.