Abstract:

In the fourteenth Five Year Plan period of China, building a high-quality education system is one policy guidance and key requirement. As a result, research on the measurement of provincial higher education development level and high-quality development paths is necessary. This paper takes Amartya Sen’s feasible ability theory as the theoretical framework, regards higher education as an organization with independent behavior ability and the key factor endowment in promoting regional social and economic development, and constructs a measurement system of higher education high-quality development. The system is based on three-dimensional framework from factors to capabilities and functions, covering 11 aspects which are quantity and scale, quality level, financial investment, teacher Investment, infrastructure, knowledge production, personnel training, enrollment opportunities, research and development conditions, human capital and innovation achievements and involving 43 indicators at provincial level. Based on the interface data of China’s 31 provinces in 2019, this paper uses four different measurement methods: factor analysis, partial least squares, technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution and grey relation analysis. According to the sub scores of provincial higher education in terms of factors, capabilities and functions through cluster analysis and comprehensive level ranking, 31 provinces are divided into three types of higher education: outstanding type, medium type and starting type, which provides the basis for the comprehensive collaborative improvement of provincial higher education and regional development.

Key words: provincial higher education, the feasible ability theory, the evaluation of education level, high-quality development