Relationship among the scale of university funding, structure of revenue and expenditure, and academic output: evidence from China’s 36 World-Class universities under construction, 2013–2022

Abstract

ABSTRACT To investigate the relationship between Chinese university funding and academic output, we collected data on the scale and the structure of funding and academic output of 36 World-Class universities under construction in China during 2013–21 and 2014–22. Furthermore, we empirically analyzed the effects of funding scale and structure on academic output using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, random effects, and fixed effects models. This study demonstrates that the scale and structure of funding have a significant effect on academic output. Among them, the scale of total budget revenue has a significant effect on academic output, and its influence on highly-cited researchers (HiCi) is greater than the other indicators. The scale of total budget expenditure also has a significant positive influence on academic output, and its influence on N&S is greater than the other indicators in order. The structure of revenue has a significant influence on academic output, and business revenue has the greatest influence on PUB. The structure of horizontal expenditure has a significant influence on academic output. The vertical expenditure structure has a significant impact on academic output, and educational expenditure has the greatest impact on PUB. Based on the results, we discuss implications for researchers and for policymakers to improve the construction effect of World-Class universities under construction in China.