Research on the Contribution of Higher Education to the Sustainable Development of the Economy in China: An Empirical Analysis Based on Provincial Panel Data from 2014 to 2023

In a time of rapid economic development, sustainable development is increasingly becoming the primary concern of governments. Taking the human capital accumulation and spillover model as an analytical tool, we use interprovincial panel data for 2014–2023 to estimate the degree of contribution of higher education to the sustainable development of the economy. Instrumental variables are introduced to alleviate the problem of endogeneity. An urbanization index is also introduced, as well as an interaction term formed by the marketization index and the independent variable to explore the extent of the contribution of higher education to the sustainable development of the regional economy. There are regional differences in the contribution of higher education to sustainable economic development. The study shows that higher education has a significant positive effect on regional economic sustainability. The higher the level of urbanization and the higher the level of marketization, the more significant the positive effect of higher education on economic sustainability. We should continuously increase investment in higher education, optimize the structure and layout of higher education, promote the synergistic development of higher education and urbanization, and deepen the interaction between higher education and market-oriented reform in order to actively promote higher education to serve the sustainable development of regional economies.