In 2007, the GDP of Jiangsu Province exceeded 2.5 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.5% over 2006. The annual per capita GDP exceeds 4,400 US dollars, and the GDP growth rate is much higher than the national average. It is predicted that by 2009, the total economic output of Jiangsu will surpass that of Taiwan Province Province. The population of northern Jiangsu accounts for 45% and the area accounts for 52% of the whole province, but the total economic output is obviously behind that of central Jiangsu and southern Jiangsu, only close to the national average.

The proportion of primary industry in southern Jiangsu is decreasing year by year, the secondary industry is dominant, and the tertiary industry is increasing year by year. The industrial structure is reasonable and the economic benefits are high. The whole of Central Jiangsu is in the middle stage of industrialization, and the proportion of secondary and tertiary industries is increasing year by year, but the proportion of primary industry is still too large. Northern Jiangsu is in the primary stage of industrialization, with low industrial structure and serious proportion of primary industry, which makes the economic level of northern Jiangsu backward.

The establishment and development of regional economy is an important restrictive factor for the occurrence and development of higher education. At present, colleges and universities in northern Jiangsu have the following characteristics: first, there are many new colleges and universities, most of which have been newly built and upgraded in recent years, with weak teachers and relatively poor conditions for running schools; Second, the level of running schools is low, and most of them are junior colleges; Third, the characteristics of running a school are not obvious, and the phenomenon of repeated setting of majors is serious; Fourth, most of them belong to provinces and cities, and the investment in education is seriously insufficient; Fifth, there are relatively many students from rural areas; Sixth, most of the institutions that drop grades every year are concentrated in northern Jiangsu.