Sustainable Optimization of University Major Settings: The Role of Government Policy Intervention

Against the backdrop of global industrial sustainable transition and the advancement of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), higher education―a core carrier of sustainable human capital supply―plays a pivotal role in adjusting majors to meet labor market demands, resolving education–industry structural mismatch, and boosting regional sustainable development. From the perspective of “higher education supporting industrial sustainable transition,” this study explores how government Policy Mix Intensity enhances universities’ Major–Industry Alignment and its transmission mechanism, aiming to reveal higher education governance’s sustainable development path. Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces (2012–2023), we constructed a PMI quantitative index and conducted empirical analysis via a two-way fixed-effects model. The results show the following: (1) high-intensity policy mixes significantly improve alignment, overcoming university organizational inertia and laying an institutional foundation for sustainable education–industry synergy; (2) Policy Mix Intensity acts through three pathways―optimizing capital allocation, deepening industry–education integration, and enhancing dynamic responsiveness―forming a “sustainable factor allocation—sustainable industry-education alignment” logic; (3) policy efficacy is more pronounced in highly marketized Eastern regions and via regulatory tools, reflecting the moderating effect of regional sustainable endowments and policy tool types. This study provides empirical evidence for the “policy mix intensity–sustainable efficacy” transformation mechanism, offers theoretical references and empirical insights from China for the global collaborative realization of SDG4, SDG8, and SDG9 through higher education policy optimization, and proposes that policy design should shift toward factor integration-based sustainable comprehensive governance.