An Important Way for the Balanced Development of China’s Higher Education: First-class Universities to the Central and Western Regions

With the support of the higher education institutions in the western region and the promotion of the higher education revitalization plan in the central and western regions, China has basically solved the problem of “higher education poverty in the central and western regions”, but the relationship between supply and demand of high quality higher education is still very tense, especially in the central and western high quality higher education. Being lack of resources and a small number of first-class universities, the uneven geographical distribution of high-quality higher education resources has become the main factor restricting the overall development of China’s higher education. How to rationally allocate high-quality higher education resources in the east to the central and western regions, the feasibility of first-class universities to the central and western schools, and the promotion of policies to solve the central and western are of great significance.


Cultivating advanced production factors and boosting economic development in the central and western regions
What do you need for the development of the Midwest? What do you need for higher education in the Midwest? Undoubtedly, top talents, abundant funds, and preferential policies are needed. It is necessary to "feed blood transfusions", but what is more needed is to enhance their own "hematopoietic function". This hematopoietic function means self-construction and training of talents and independent expansion of funding sources. First-class universities have a typical leading role. American economist Paul A. Samuelson pointed out that modern economic growth includes four elements: human resources, natural resources, capital accumulation, technological change and innovation, among which human resources, technological change and innovation are closely related to higher education. Therefore, high-quality higher education resources, especially first-class universities, have a significant role in promoting regional economic development. The performance is as follows: First, first-class universities can train top talents needed for regional economic development. In the era of knowledge economy, top talents are the decisive factor for economic development. Second, first-class universities can bring technological support to regional economic development. Economic development relies on advanced technologies. Local enterprises can share their latest scientific research results through cooperation with universities. In turn, the scientific research results are transformed into productivity that promotes economic development. Third, first-class universities directly promote regional economic development. For example, the construction of universities provides employment opportunities for local residents, and the teachers and students expand the regional consumer market (Qiu Junping, 2010). When the country is planning the construction of first-class universities and first-class disciplines, we must consider the important factors of geographical distribution, focus on the long-term development of the central and western regions, and encourage first-class universities to run schools in the central and western regions. Candidates can enter the first-class universities without going out of the province. To cultivate the "high quality, retain, and use" talents for the central and western regions, and promote the economic development of the central and western regions.

Expanding the space for education to alleviate poverty and building a well-off society in an all-round way
As a representative of high-quality education resources, first-class universities have a wide range of radiant functions and can expand the space for education to alleviate poverty. First, to promote the development of local characteristic industries, first-class universities have the advantages of science and technology, can provide toplevel design for industrial development in poverty-stricken areas, and formulate industrial development plans in line with local realities. Second, first-class universities are the gathering and distributing places of new ideas, which provide a basis for organizing and developing specialized training of professionals. Thirdly, it helps to promote the construction of spiritual civilization, the first-class universities have many advantages such as student unions and alumni associations, who help the poor people to establish modern civilization concepts and change backward customs (MOE, 2016).
Governing poverty and treating ignorance will help the poor. The foundation of "governing fools" and "supporting wisdom" lies in the development of education. Compared with economic poverty alleviation and policy poverty alleviation, education poverty alleviation directly refers to the root cause of poverty and backwardness. To make up for the "short board" of education is to solve the problem of uneven distribution of educational resources in the eastern and central and western regions. The first-class university to the Central and Western China not only promotes the rational allocation of educational resources, but also attracts more top talents to participate in the education of the central and western regions, and promotes the victory of the central and western regions to fight poverty and lay a solid foundation for building a well-off society in an all-round way. joint construction model (GOSC, 2016). In 2017, the State Council issued the "13th Five-Year Plan for National Education Development", emphasizing the optimization of the regional distribution of educational resources, supporting the increase of quality education resources in the central and western regions, improving the regional educational cooperation mechanism, and encouraging the distribution of higher education resources and industries from east to west. The gradient transfer is linked to enhance the comprehensive strength of education development in the central and western regions, and further narrow the gap with the developed regions in the east (TSC, 2017). Higher education is an important support for regional economic and social development and a strategic measure to enhance urban competitiveness. The provinces in the central and western regions pay special attention to the introduction of high-quality higher education resources. In 2015, Guangxi province issued the "Opinions on Deepening the Comprehensive Reform of Higher Education" and proposed to "intensify efforts to introduce highquality educational resources at home and abroad, and vigorously support the cooperation between universities and high-level universities at home and abroad" to deepen the opening up of higher education (PGGZAR ,2015). Guizhou province issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Opening of Foreign Exchanges and Cooperation among Colleges and Universities (Trial)", pointing out that it is necessary to attract well-known schools, education and scientific research institutions from home and abroad to set up higher education teaching, training, research institutions or projects in our province. Improve the overall level of higher education in our province and promote economic and social development (GPDE, 2011). Zhang Jianren, deputy director of the Education Department of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, issued a paper "Some Thoughts on the Development of Higher Education in Xinjiang", and put forward the strategic concept of Xinjiang's higher education development, including actively introducing famous key universities to hold secondary colleges in the region and introducing high-quality educational resources in the Mainland (Zhang Jianren, 2006).

The development potential of the central and western regions provides space for the first-class university to move westward
The Midwest provides specific resources for the construction of first-class universities. When first-class universities serve the region, these regions will also provide rich support resources. In essence, all the resources of a university are derived from other subjects. For the first-class universities, the decoupling from the industry management departments will gradually make the way to obtain resources from the industry dimension disappear, and the school in the central and western regions is more conducive to opening up new ones.
The Midwest provides a platform for the functioning of first-class universities. On the one hand, the rapid development of the central and western economy can absorb the talents cultivated by first-class universities, and the faster the economy develops, the more obvious this absorption effect is, because the graduates have a good employment situation and broad prospects; on the other hand, the economy development provides a platform for the transformation of scientific research achievements of first-class universities, and at the same time promotes regional economic development and enables the university's social service functions to be exerted (Qiu Xiang ,2011).
The development of the central and western regions will have a positive impact on the discipline layout and professional settings of first-class universities. For example, in the primary industry, the central and western regions have advantageous industries such as agriculture and forestry. First-class universities can add disciplines such as ecology and drought, pollution-free agriculture, etc. The first-class agricultural universities will have more possibilities in running schools in the west. Second, the western region is rich in mineral resources and has the natural advantages of resource development and processing industries. The first-class universities of science and engineering will serve the regional development more directly in the central and western regions. In the tertiary industry, the central and western regions have many characteristic human resources, such as Tibetan culture, minority culture, etc., the first-class liberal arts universities can add disciplines such as ethnology, and open up new economic growth points for the central and western regions.

There are precedents in China: Hefei Campus of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
In 2015, National Leader Xi Jinping at the National Science and Technology Innovation Conference put forward that "scientific research should not only pursue knowledge and truth, but also serve economic and social development and the broad masses of the people. The vast number of scientific and technological workers must write their thesis on the land of the motherland. The application of scientific and technological achievements is in the great cause of modernization." In 2016, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Anhui Provincial People's Government signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement in Hefei City to jointly build Hefei Science City of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, aiming at scientific research and innovation and transformation of achievements. In the field of higher education, we will carry out multidisciplinary and all-round cooperation, and establish a school-collaborative collaborative innovation system combining government, industry, and research.
The mission of BUAA to Hefei is the common aspiration of both sides. It expands the space and pattern of

Local governments strengthen support and connection with first-class universities in the central and western regions
Formulate the land use policy for first-class universities in the central and western regions, improve the overall land use planning, clearly stipulate that new construction land should be used preferentially for higher education development; Subsidies should be given to teachers who come to work in the region, and preferential policies for teachers to buy houses should be improved in order to attract excellent teachers. Improve the employment and entrepreneurial environment and promote the local employment of outstanding graduates. In order to retain outstanding talents, it is recommended that the local government formulate a series of preferential policies and treatments for graduates who intend to stay in the local work. For example, in terms of wages and salaries, a considerable amount of home security fees will be paid at one time, and those who have worked for a certain number of years in underdeveloped areas have given policy inclinations in recruiting civil servants.
4.3 First-class universities share resource service regional development, adhere to the docking of superior disciplines and regional pillar industries Sharing high-quality resources and building a higher education resource system for first-class universities in the central and western regions. In the case of shortage of resources in the central and western regions, how to steadily improve its quality has become an urgent issue, and the establishment of high-quality resources by domestic firstclass universities to the central and western regions has become an effective way to solve this problem, includes the following two aspects: (1) Sharing of human resources, the first-class university to the Central and Western China will accelerate the pace of popularization of high-quality higher education. It is recommended that all campuses of first-class universities should employ teachers in a unified manner, encourage teachers to work in the central and western campuses, or take positions in the central and western regions according to the disciplines, and promote high-level teachers move to the central and western regions, bringing more high-level talents to the central and western regions; (2) sharing material resources, using modern information technology and network technology to establish an information sharing platform across campuses, breaking geographical restrictions and realizing information sharing.