Higher education and regional development of Shenzhen municipality in China’s greater bay area

Abstract

Shenzhen City in Southeast China has developed from a small fishing village into a modern metropolis since China adopted an open-door policy in 1978. In accordance with its national plan and strategy, China has been striving to develop its international Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA). Owing to its rapidly developing economy, industries and innovative technologies, Shenzhen is an important city in the GBA. Shenzhen’s higher education (HE) is supposedly crucial for its advancement as an innovation hub. However, the HE in Shenzhen is reportedly not adept with the city’s economic development. Although some Chinese studies have focused on Shenzhen’s HE-related issues, such as integration of and co-operation with the GBA’s policies, not many international studies have assessed how universities can help to ensure overall regional development. Thus, in this study, using Shenzhen’s case in the GBA, we explore the roles of universities in regional development. We review several policy documents and literature based on the glonacal framework to collect relevant data in text and generated themes. The study findings address the critical roles of Shenzhen universities in regional development such as promoting research capacity, fostering international collaboration and upgrading the GBA’s HE sector.

One country with two systems: The characteristics and development of higher education in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area

“…The development of HE in the GBA should be combined with the national 'One Belt, One Road' strategy to strengthen cooperation and exchanges on the international stage, seize essential opportunities to integrate the resources of the three regions of the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, and further upgrade the quality of HE. HE should uphold the principle of regional sustainable development, implement the 'one country, two systems' policy, use the advantages of each city, and promote the coordinated and integrated development of universities (Xie et al, 2022).…”

Achievements, challenges, and opportunities: Redesigning higher education in East Asia for a better future

“…Kang (2023) investigates local innovation system of Shenzhen and the role played by higher education institutions in facilitating the social and economic transformation of the city. Similarly, Xie et al (2022) turn their attention to the regional development of the Greater Bay Area and ask the question of how universities in Shenzhen may better support the Area’s regional development. They argue that universities are important players in promoting research capacity, fostering international collaboration, and upgrading the Area’s higher education sector.…”

Urban/Rural Disparities in Access to Elite Higher Education: The Case of Tsinghua University

“…The changing relationship of the triangular relationship between the state, the market, and the university has made the issue of educational equity questionable while maintaining the rapid expansion of China’s higher education (Shen et al, 2022; Xie et al, 2022). On the one hand, the scale of China’s higher education has been unprecedentedly expanded.…”