Effects of Higher Education on Green Eco-Efficiency and Its Optimization Path: Case Study of China

Abstract

Based on the annual panel data of 30 provinces in China, this paper evaluates the green eco-efficiency of each province via factor decomposition and analyzes the impact of higher education on green eco-efficiency using the two-way fixed effect model, considering economic development, urban scale, industrial structure, foreign investment and government regulation as control factors. The results show that the penetration of higher education has a significant positive impact on green eco-efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis suggests that the positive impact of undergraduate and postgraduate education is significant, and this impact increases with the increasing levels of education; however, the influence of junior college education is not significant. Higher education in eastern China significantly affects green eco-efficiency in a positive manner, while the relationship between the two is not significant in the central and western regions. The test of mediating effects further shows that technological innovation has a partial mediating effect, while environmental attention does not show a mediating effect in the influencing path of higher education on green eco-efficiency. Accordingly, this paper proposes certain implications regarding green-related courses, transformation from consciousness to practice, and incorporation of green education in higher education systems.