“…Based on the dataset collected from related government departments and authoritative research institutions, the authors determined the postgraduate education institutions' location (in [latitude, longitude] format) with the help of the Baidu Maps development platform. 2 Following the Geographic Information System (GIS) approach (Changchit et al, 2021;Gallego-Gomez et al, 2021;Huang et al, 2021;Kesharwani et al, 2021;Lee et al, 2021;Peng, Chen et al, 2021;Srivastava & Eachempati, 2021;Xanthidis & Xanthidou, 2021;ZareRavasan, & Krčál, 2021;, the authors quantitatively explore the spatial aggregation characteristics of postgraduate education in China, using ArcGIS software and related tools or documents, at three scales: the comprehensive economic zone, the provincial, and the city scale. Second, the authors follow the social and economic geography viewpoint to quantitatively explore factors that may influence the spatial development pattern of China's postgraduate education.…”