Guo Rui, Ye Meng
School of Foreign Languages, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, Liaoning, China.
College of Public Administration and Humanities, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, Liaoning, China.
PLoS One. 2025 Jun 11;20(6):e0325901. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0325901. eCollection 2025.
Amid rapid globalization and the expansion of the knowledge economy, enhancing input-output efficiency of higher education is essential for regional development and national competitiveness. In resource-constrained regions like western China, it is of utmost significance to obtain efficiency gains by accurately assessing this efficiency and identifying its determinants, which are crucial for balanced regional development and educational equity. This study employs a comprehensive research methodology, combining a three-stage Data Envelopment Analysis, the global Malmquist productivity index, and a Tobit model to systematically evaluate input-output efficiency, productivity dynamics, and factors influencing technical efficiency in higher education across 12 provinces in western China from 2010 to 2022. The findings reveal that environmental factors and random errors significantly affect the input-output efficiency of higher education in western China, resulting in an overestimation of overall efficiency. Adjusted values for technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency, and scale efficiency are 0.8510, 0.9761, and 0.8707, respectively. Although most western provinces demonstrate relatively high pure technical efficiency, deficiencies in scale efficiency reduce overall technical efficiency, particularly in Tibet, Qinghai, and Ningxia. Total factor productivity exhibits a modest annual growth rate of 1.05%, driven by both technical efficiency advancements and technological progress, with technical efficiency change-primarily via enhanced scale efficiency-acting as the main contributor. Moreover, human capital structures and educational funding allocations significantly impact technical efficiency. Specifically, the proportion of full-time faculty with senior or associate senior academic titles and per-student education expenditure have a significantly negative influence on technical efficiency, whereas the share of operating expenses in total higher education expenditure and the proportion of employees with at least a college education are positively correlated with technical efficiency. This study offers empirical evidence to inform the formulation of targeted policies for the development of higher education in western China.
在快速全球化和知识经济扩张的背景下，提高高等教育的投入产出效率对区域发展和国家竞争力至关重要。在中国西部等资源受限地区，通过准确评估这种效率并确定其决定因素来实现效率提升具有极其重要的意义，这对于区域均衡发展和教育公平至关重要。本研究采用综合研究方法，结合三阶段数据包络分析、全局Malmquist生产率指数和Tobit模型，系统评估了2010年至2022年中国西部12个省份高等教育的投入产出效率、生产率动态以及影响技术效率的因素。研究结果表明，环境因素和随机误差对中国西部高等教育的投入产出效率有显著影响，导致整体效率被高估。技术效率、纯技术效率和规模效率的调整值分别为0.8510、0.9761和0.8707。尽管大多数西部省份的纯技术效率相对较高，但规模效率的不足降低了整体技术效率，特别是在西藏、青海和宁夏。全要素生产率年均增长率为1.05%，这得益于技术效率的提高和技术进步，其中技术效率变化（主要通过提高规模效率）是主要贡献因素。此外，人力资本结构和教育经费分配对技术效率有显著影响。具体而言，具有高级职称或副高级职称的专任教师比例和生均教育支出对技术效率有显著负面影响，而高等教育总支出中业务费用的占比和至少具有大专学历的员工比例与技术效率呈正相关。本研究提供了实证依据，为中国西部高等教育发展的针对性政策制定提供参考。
