The sustainable development of university student loans based on the evolutionary game

Abstract

Purpose

National student loans help solve the problem of tuition fees for students from poor families to a great extent. This paper aims to study the behavior of three main players involved in university student loans, namely, universities, banks and students and explores necessary conditions for promoting the steady development of student loans, as well as the sustainability of cooperation and coordination among players, thus promoting the further development of student loans.

Design/methodology/approach

First, from the perspectives of the three related players of banks, students and universities and their behavior, this paper establishes a three-player behavioral evolutionary game model, conducts a sustainable game analysis among the different players, and by replicating the dynamic equations with the Jacobian matrix solve the evolutionarily stable strategy. Finally, applying MATLAB tools, a sensitivity analysis of relevant impacting factors is carried out to explore the influencing mechanism of the sustainable development of student loans.

Findings

To achieve the mechanism of mutual coordination and cooperation between participants, banks need to be guided to actively issue student loans and conduct strict loan review. College students should be encouraged to establish good credit and strengthen penalties should be implemented for violations of regulations. Universities should be encouraged to help banks reduce information asymmetry, promote financial knowledge and student integrity education and promote the sustainable development of national student loans.

Originality/value

This research will help scholars better understand the interaction mechanism among universities, banks and students, and promote the sustainable development of national student loans.

Citation

Zhang, Y., You, X., Wang, W. and Lin, T. (2021), "The sustainable development of university student loans based on the evolutionary game", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 59-76. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-11-2019-0345