Abstract: Education serves as a driving force for social development, and a way for members to obtain status and respect. The education level does not only determine the advancement and the renewal of a nation, but also profoundly affects the process of human civilization. The study finds that the restructuring of education in China in the past 40 years can be illustrated in the growing number of the higher education, secondary vocational education and preschool education institutions, which shows the professionalization and high-end orientation of the educational development.    The past 40 years witnessed the non-equilibrium between the economic development and educational resources, activities as well as achievements, and the degrees of non-equilibrium varied at the different stages. In the future, China will endeavor to construct a modern economic system for the sustainable and coordinated development of education and economy, narrow the regional economic disparities for the equitable, inclusive and balanced education, improve the quality of talent training for economic development, and construct an advanced education quality system for establishing a powerful country in education and economy.

Key words: reform and opening-up, education and economy, non-equilibrium state