How institutional resources affect university students’ learning outcomes: Evidence from the 2023 University Student Learning Experience Survey in China

Research evidence shows that institutional resources are associated with students’ learning outcomes. Whether this is a universal phenomenon needs to be tested as there are cultural differences among countries. We analyze the relationship between the resources in higher education institutions on students’ learning outcomes, based on a national survey, with a sample of 1,142 Chinese undergraduate students. The result indicates that institutional resources can predict students’ learning outcomes, with facilities and support being the strongest predictors, followed by student engagement and the quality of teacher and teaching. Surprisingly, despite the widely held belief that teachers and teaching quality are strongly related to educational effectiveness, path analysis shows that after controlling for factors such as institutional resources and support, teachers and teaching quality explain very little variations in student outcomes . One possible explanation could be the over-emphasis on research outputs in China as part of Chinese universities’ effort to establish world ranking status. This may have come at the expense of student’s learning outcomes.