Graduate Education Scale, Training Output, and Regional Innovation: An Analysis Based on Structural Effects and Market Environment

Yao Pan

doi:10.6918/IJOSSER.202607_9(7).0012

Authors

Yao Pan School of Finance and Public Administration, Anhui University of Finance and Economics, Bengbu 233030, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6918/IJOSSER.202607_9(7).0012

Keywords:

Graduate education; regional innovation; training output; educational structure; market heterogeneity.

Abstract

Against the background of building China into a leading country in education and pursuing innovation-driven development, the role of graduate education in regional innovation has become increasingly prominent. Based on provincial panel data for 31 Chinese provinces from 2005 to 2022, this paper uses a two-way fixed-effects model to examine the empirical relationship between graduate education scale and regional innovation, and further analyzes training output, educational structure, and differences in market environment. The results show that the direct effect of graduate education scale on regional innovation is not stable, and scale expansion alone cannot fully explain improvements in regional innovation. The number of graduate degree recipients and training efficiency have significant positive effects on basic research, indicating that training output is an important dimension for understanding how graduate education serves knowledge production. Structural variables such as the doctoral share and the doctoral-master ratio have positive effects on regional innovation, especially basic research, but scale expansion and structural optimization do not simply reinforce each other. Market heterogeneity and interaction tests show that the innovation effect of graduate education scale is more evident in low-marketization regions, with particularly significant intergroup differences in basic research. Supplementary analysis also shows that university R&D expenditure and university R&D projects mainly promote basic research output. The findings suggest that graduate education should serve regional innovation by shifting from mere scale expansion toward structural optimization, quality improvement, and stronger regional adaptation.

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