A new concept of education-innovation-economy-environment sustainability system: a new framework of strategy-based network data envelopment analysis

To the best of our knowledge, no Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) study has evaluated the performance of universities in promoting either economy or sustainability. To do the evaluation work, this study proposes a new sustainability system. Our system allows us to capture the complex relationships and interactions among universities’ activities (education and innovation), economic growth and environmental protection. Methodologically, this study proposes a new framework. Our framework contains network DEA models (for efficiency evaluation and strategy analysis), relative weight indicators (for priority identification), K-means clustering method (to perform heterogeneity analysis) and Gini coefficient (to identify sources of inequality). Empirically, this study considers the case of China from 2007 to 2019. Our main conclusions are summarized as follows. First, China’s sustainability system experiences a regress in overall efficiency during the study period. The regress is mainly caused by stage 2 (economy-environment). Second, as compared with economy-environment stage, education-innovation has gained more priority. Third, special attention should be given to strategy, since a tailor-designed strategy can improve overall or stage efficiency. Finally, there is growing technology inequality across Chinese provinces. To address this issue, governments should take measures to reduce technological diffusion barriers.