IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT IN GANSU PROVINCE UNIVERSITIES: CHALLENGES, STRATEGIES, AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Abstract

Against the backdrop of global digital transformation and China’s Education Modernization 2035 strategy, digital leadership has become a core driver to upgrade university governance and operational efficiency (Zhu & Li, 2024). As China’s national pilot zone for revitalizing higher education in central and western regions, Gansu Province is featured by weak fiscal capacity and multi-ethnic populations, bringing unique opportunities and dilemmas to local university digital construction (Liu, 2024). This study takes universities in Gansu as research objects, constructs a five-dimensional digital leadership framework including strategic digital planning, data-driven decision-making, digital resource allocation, organizational digital culture and digital security governance, and systematically analyzes their internal action mechanisms. Adopting literature analysis and regional contextual deduction as core research methods, this paper sorts out prominent challenges restricting educational management efficiency, such as inadequate top-level digital design, uneven administrator digital literacy, imbalanced resource distribution and cross-department data silos (Wang, 2022). Corresponding targeted optimization strategies are proposed, and feasible future research directions are summarized. The results can provide theoretical basis and practical references for digital governance and high-quality development of higher education in western ethnic border regions of China.