For historical, economic and environmental reasons, there is a big gap in higher education between central and western China and the eastern regions. This gap is not in the scale and quantity of universities, but mainly in the quality and structure of higher education. It is a gap between the level of higher education and economic and social development. To revitalize higher education in central and western China, it is necessary to break away from the theoretical limitation of discussing education only in terms of education, and from the vision confined by administrative division to think under the background of common prosperity and outside the box of simply demanding support from central policies and developed regions. Higher education should be placed in the overall economic development pattern, where higher education and regional economy should develop in coordination with each other, thus construct a higher education system that is in line with regional economic and social development.