Research on The Current Situation and Problems of The Realization

of "Double First-Class" Development of Higher Education in

The Western Region

Ziyi Huang

School of Arts, Shaanxi University of Technology, Hanzhong, Shaanxi, China

Keywords: Current Development Status, Discipline Construction, Educational Finance.

Abstract: With the gradual improvement of the overall situation in the western region, the development of universities

has also become a steady upward trend, but the financial investment in higher education is still insufficient.

This paper concludes that in addition to the geographical and economic factors between regions, the difference

between the higher education level in the western region and the eastern region is aggravated due to the uneven

investment between the state and local governments, and the problem of resource utilization and distribution

within the region is more serious, and the resource allocation mode between schools is also very different.

Based on this, this paper points out that schools in the western region should grasp the characteristics of the

region to develop education. It is necessary to pay attention to the balanced distribution of educational

resources between regions colleges and universities.

1 INTRODUCTION

"Double First-Class" is the abbreviation of the

Double First-Class Initiative, which is a major

strategic decision made by the Central Committee of

the Communist Party of China and the State Council,

and another national strategy in China's higher

education field after the "211 Project" and "985

Project". The construction and investment of "Double

First-Class University" is conducive to enhancing the

comprehensive strength and international

competitiveness of China's higher education.

Colleges and universities are an important

position for the country to implement the innovation-

driven development strategy. Stable and continuous

investment plays an important role in ensuring

China's innovation ability and achieving self-reliance

and self-reliance in science and technology. Through

the study of the funding of double first-class

universities, it can understand the national investment

and resource allocation among universities in various

regions and regions, as well as the differences in local

basic levels, explore the reform path, and optimize the

allocation of resources. The construction of double-

first-class universities has had a lot of impact on the

development of the Western region, and the capital

investment of various provinces to support the

construction of double-first-class universities has

played an important role in promoting the

development of the local education industry. By

improving the quality of higher education, attracting

and retaining talents, promoting the development of

disciplines, enhancing the comprehensive strength of

colleges and universities, and promoting economic

and social development, the construction of double

first-class will help the education industry to achieve

leapfrog development. Therefore, to improve the

development quality of colleges and universities and

promote inter-regional educational equity, it is

valuable to study the current situation and problems

of the development of universities in the Western

region to achieve double first-class development.

Taking universities in the western region as an

example, this paper explores and analyzes the

development of double-first-class universities in the

western provinces through data survey, literature

analysis, observation, and other methods, and studies

the growth of funding and the flow of educational

personnel, to explore the optimization methods and

improve the attention of education fund allocation

and educational equity. At the same time, it is

expected to optimize the management mechanism of

capital investment in the Western region, help

universities solve practical problems, and provide

strategic suggestions for promoting the high-quality

development of science and technology in China's

universities.

210

Huang, Z.

Research on the Current Situation and Problems of the Realization of "Double First-Class" Development of Higher Education in the Western Region.

DOI: 10.5220/0013977200004912

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development (IESD 2025), pages 210-214

ISBN: 978-989-758-779-5

2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF

DOUBLE-FIRST-CLASS

HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE

WESTERN REGION

2.1 The Development of

Double-First-Class Universities in

The Western Region in Recent

Years

In recent years, the development of colleges and

universities in the Western region has been on a

steady upward trend, and the overall situation has also

been greatly improved in some aspects. In the "14th

Five-Year Plan", the state mentioned that it is

necessary to optimize the distribution of regional

higher education resources and promote the

revitalization of higher education in the central and

western regions. During the "14th Five-Year Plan"

period, the state will lay out and build a

comprehensive platform for innovation in higher

education in the northwest, southwest, and central

regions, and jointly establish and share high-quality

education, scientific research, and human resources.

Supporting colleges and universities in the central and

western regions to optimize the structure of

disciplines and majors, increasing the counterpart

support of universities in the east to colleges and

universities in the west, and improving the supply of

high-quality education and teaching resources to

colleges and universities in the west show that the

state has paid more and more attention to the western

region in recent years.

Since the implementation of the policy of

developing the western region in 2000, the state's

investment in education construction and financial

investment in the western region has gradually

increased, from 321,192.849 million yuan in 2009 to

826.834 billion yuan in 2022. The overall financial

support has been greatly improved, and local

governments have also paid more and more attention

to education. Some areas have achieved remarkable

results, but the level of scientific research, the number

of students, and other aspects have a steady upward

trend. At present, there are 1,465 colleges and

universities in the central and western regions,

accounting for 53% of the total number of colleges

and universities in the country. By 2022, there will be

24 "double first-class" universities in the western

region, with 710,000 full-time teachers, accounting

for 54% of the total number of teachers in the country,

and 13.34 million students, accounting for 57% of the

total number of students in the country.

The study found that after the central government

decided to further implement the strategy of

rejuvenating the country through science and

education, from 1998 to 2002, the proportion of

education expenditure in the central government's

fiscal expenditure at the same level increased by one

percentage point every year over the previous year.

The total proportion of education expenditure in the

fiscal expenditure of the 12 western provinces

continued to rise (Hu et al., 2008).

From the perspective of static efficiency, the

overall efficiency of compulsory education fiscal

expenditure in the western region is relatively stable

on the whole (Yao & Fu, 2023). From the perspective

of Yao Lihong's dynamic efficiency, 2011 was an

important turning point in the financial funding of

higher education in the Western region, and the total

factor productivity changed significantly after 2011,

which may be because in 2011, the state promulgated

relevant policy documents for higher education in the

western region, and the universities in the western

region have obtained a large number of preferential

policies, and their infrastructure construction,

resource allocation capabilities, technical

management levels, and academic and innovation

capabilities of colleges and universities have

improved. From the perspective of the western

provinces, compared with 2000, the comprehensive

efficiency of higher education financial expenditure

in six provinces and cities, Ningxia, Gansu, Shaanxi,

Yunnan, Sichuan, and Chongqing, has increased, and

Yunnan has increased the most, indicating that the

level of higher education resource allocation and

internal management capacity in the western region

have improved (Zhou & Gao, 2022).

2.2 Specific Measures

On the whole, the development of higher education in

the Western region has been greatly improved in all

aspects. Based on the above situation, this section

takes Xi'an Jiaotong University and Sichuan

University as examples to analyze the use of

resources and related problems in the financial

investment of universities in the Western region.

2.2.1 Faculty

On the whole, the strength of teachers has been

greatly improved, and colleges and universities have

also increased financial support and policy support

for the construction of the teaching team. Research by

Research on the Current Situation and Problems of the Realization of "Double First-Class" Development of Higher Education in the Western

Region

211

other scholars has shown that the long-term

development prospects of universities are

competencies (qualifications and motivations). The

form of resource allocation is more important, but its

direct impact on success is very limited, and the

quality of teachers is the key factor for success

(Liefner, 2003). According to the analysis of data

from the official websites of Sichuan University and

Xi'an Jiaotong University, Sichuan University has a

large number of faculty members. Xi'an Jiaotong

University has a high-quality backbone teaching

team. In addition to the superior geographical

location of these two schools, in terms of talent

introduction, Sichuan University uses the model of

internal training and external introduction to increase

investment in the budget for the construction of the

teaching staff. In addition, Sichuan University also

has special funds to increase the internal training and

external introduction of high-level talents, especially

the four young talents. This provides a favorable

scientific research condition and system for the

teaching team. In terms of talent training, Xi'an

Jiaotong University has adopted a five-stage

progressive teacher training system, which makes the

training of young and middle-aged teachers fully

covered and can run through the whole process of

teacher growth. The enthusiasm of teachers to

participate in teaching and research has been

continuously enhanced, and the teaching quality has

been significantly improved. Moreover, it took the

lead in establishing the Alliance of Teacher Teaching

Development Centers of Colleges and Universities in

Northwest China and created a demonstration and

radiation model of teacher training experience driven

by the alliance, resource sharing, school assistance,

and entrusted training, which provided valuable

experience and contributed wisdom and strength to

the training of teachers in colleges and universities in

the western region.

2.2.2 Discipline Construction and Scientific

Research Strength

Both schools have high academic standing and

influence in many professional subject areas. In 2023,

Xi'an Jiaotong University ranked 8th among Chinese

universities in terms of the number of internationally

cited papers. Sichuan University ranks third. Such a

level of discipline construction and scientific research

strength are inseparable from the financial support of

regions and universities. The budgets of the two

universities rank first in their respective provinces,

reaching 11.468 billion yuan and 10.17 billion yuan.

It can be seen that the region's support for universities

is very large. In terms of the allocation of financial

resources, Sichuan University's investment in

scientific research funds is second only to fourth

place in the use of general education funds. In terms

of management methods, scientific research funds are

divided into vertical funds and horizontal funds.

Vertical funds come from central and local financial

funds, and horizontal funds come from social funds.

Xi'an Jiaotong University's investment in scientific

research funds accounts for the third place in total

funds. In terms of financial management, the mode of

unified management, centralized accounting, and

special funds is implemented. And regular

performance appraisal, which makes the use of funds

more standardized and reasonable.

3 EXISTING PROBLEMS

3.1 Differences in National and Local

Government Investment in

Education Finance

On the whole, there are still some problems in the

allocation of national and local financial investment

in universities. The central government's education

financial expenditure in the eastern region is higher

than that in the western region, which aggravates the

problem of disparity between higher education

institutions in the eastern and western regions. For

example, the state financial expenditure on education

in Guangdong Province has reached more than 40

million yuan, while that of Sichuan Province has

reached more than 20 million yuan. In terms of the

average budget allocated by the state to higher

education students, 8 provinces in the east exceeded

the average, while 7 provinces in the west were below

the average. Through the establishment of an index

framework and panel data econometric model,

scholars find that the absolute difference in higher

education expenditure per student in China is

expanding rapidly, but the relative difference is

relatively stable (Fu & Zhang, 2007). By studying the

expenditure on higher education in 2018 and its

proportion in the total expenditure of education, it can

be seen that the expenditure on higher education

varies greatly among regions, while the expenditure

on higher education in the western region is generally

low (Wang, 2021). Gao Yao's empirical analysis and

international comparison of the level of general

higher education funding in China show that China's

per capita higher education expenditure is very low,

the growth is slow, and it is uneven, and the gap

IESD 2025 - International Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development

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between the eastern and central and western regions

is very large (Gao & Qiao, 2021; Du & Gu, 2016).

The eastern part of China is dominated by plains and

hills and the western part is dominated by plateau

basins. Because most of the western region is located

in plateaus and mountains, its natural environment is

harsh, the transportation is not as convenient as the

east, and many rural and underdeveloped areas are

very scarce in resources, so the whole has been

greatly restricted. At present, although the economic

level of the western region is growing year by year,

there is still a big gap between it and the eastern

region

3.2 Differences in Input Among

Provinces in The Western Region

From the perspective of the western region, on the

whole, the western region has a greater allocation in

key provinces, which ignores some remote areas and

aggravates the problem of disparities between

regions. For example, in the western region, Sichuan

Province and Shaanxi Province have spent more than

20 million and 10 million yuan on state financial

education funds. The average in the rest of the

western region is about 8 million, and the lowest in

Tibet is only about 3 million. From 1996 to 2005, the

average annual growth rate of the number of students

enrolled in colleges and universities in the western

region was 120 percent There is also a big problem

with the financial allocation of the provinces, and the

resource tilt within the region is also very serious.

Through the investigation of the financial statements

of the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Finance, it is

found that in the first half of 2024, the education

expenditure will increase by 0.4%, and the science

and technology expenditure will decrease by 16.9%.

This makes the overall level of 211 universities in the

two provinces high, while the other provinces do not

have a large number of high-level universities as

support, and the economic level is also very different.

The ability of remote areas to support the

development of colleges and universities is weak, and

the lack of capital investment makes the gap between

colleges and universities continue to widen

3.3 Utilization and Distribution of

Resources by Colleges and

Universities in The Western Region

On the whole, the difference in the amount of funding

between the state and local governments directly

affects the gap in the amount of funds allocated by

colleges and universities for education and scientific

research, and the utilization of resources by colleges

and universities also greatly affects the development

of universities. From the perspective of education

investment, there is an extreme imbalance in the

expenditure of higher education between regions.

Investment in education is an important factor in

ensuring the quality of education. The resource

allocation model between schools is also very

different, such as Sichuan University's financial

allocation of 307,817.16 million yuan in 2024.

Among them, 749,696.12 yuan was used for

education expenditure, 86.9092 million yuan was

used for science and technology expenditure, and the

rest was used for social security, housing security,

and employment expenditure. Xi'an Jiaotong

University's general public budget appropriation

income is 312,085.69 million yuan. Among them,

901,406.55 yuan was spent on education, 319.6572

million yuan was spent on social security and

employment, and 237.0115 million yuan was spent on

science and technology. It can be seen that although

Sichuan University is not as high as Xi'an Jiaotong

University in terms of funding, the university ranks

education and scientific research funding as the first

element, while Xi'an Jiaotong University chooses to

provide social security and employment security

under the premise of ensuring education funds. The

utilization of human resources Xi'an Jiaotong

University has 3,772 full-time teachers, 33 colleges,

3,858 Sichuan University, 39 colleges, 154 research

centers of Xi'an Jiaotong University with a collection

of more than 580 books, and 190 research bases and

laboratories of Sichuan University with a collection

of more than 800 books.

4 REVELATION

Different regions have different regional

particularities, and the western region should be

based on regional characteristics. Colleges and

universities should not rely too much on the state's

financial allocation, should deeply explore the

uniqueness of culture and region as a whole, and

establish and improve the central guidance, local

support, self-financing of colleges and universities,

social participation, and other diversified investment

mechanisms (Qiu & Fan, 2023).

The region must seize the opportunity of national

policies, pay more attention to it, invest financial

resources in scientific planning, innovate the resource

allocation model, continuously improve the

governance system of universities in the western

region, and improve the efficiency of resource

Research on the Current Situation and Problems of the Realization of "Double First-Class" Development of Higher Education in the Western

Region

213

allocation. Some scholars have pointed out that the

technical competency approach provides a new way

of thinking about and behaving about the role of

higher education (Kruss, et al., 2015). Therefore,

universities should rely on local economic

development to promote scientific and technological

innovation and the construction of advantageous

disciplines among universities.

There has always been a gap between the East and

the West, and the level of each university is also very

different. Taking Shaanxi as an example, the

particularity of the regional environment leads to

great differences in the development of southern and

northern Shaanxi. According to the report data of the

Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Statistics, in 2016, the

Guanzhong region accounted for 66%, the northern

Shaanxi region accounted for 20%, and the southern

Shaanxi region 14%. It shows that the primary task of

Shaanxi Province is to strive to balance the resource

differences in the province to achieve a win-win

situation with the entire western region. Sichuan and

Shaanxi provinces, as the powerful provinces in the

western region, should cooperate with other

provinces for common development and can use

complementary resources, sharing complementary

advantages, and other means to catch up with the gap

between the east and the west.

5 CONCLUSION

Based on the research on the current situation of the

development of higher education institutions in the

Western region, this paper analyzes the problem of

the development of double first-class in the Western

region and puts forward the following suggestions.

The national and local governments are the main

body of educational resources. Therefore, national

finance bears the main responsibility for expenditure

and should be planned for the development of the

region, to minimize the difference in development

between regions. The government should play a

balanced role in the allocation of higher education

resources, to achieve macro-control, and precise

assistance, to increase the degree of attention to

remote areas, and colleges. Universities should make

full use of the resources provided by the national and

local governments, the development of education and

science and technology as the first element, scientific

planning. Improve the efficiency of resource

allocation will be Shaanxi Province, and Sichuan

Province as a benchmark, and strive to keep up. The

key point of development falls on the upgrading of

files, paying attention to the average resources and

quality of colleges and universities in the region, and

developing international cooperation and exchanges,

cultural inheritance and innovation, scientific

research, talent training, social services, and other

aspects.

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