Abstract: Based on the framework of “environment-effort”,this paper quantifies the urban-rural differences from accessibility,equity and equitable accessibility of higher education,and uses different decomposition methods to explore the causes of urban-rural differences.The results have shown that the college enrollment expansion has led to the varying degrees of improvement of the accessibility,equity and equitable accessibility in urban and rural areas.Among them,the change range of urban and rural areas is larger,and the benefits brought by the expansion of college enrollment have better been enjoyed by urban groups,which has further widened the gap between urban-rural accessibility and equity.Further analysis has shown that the inequality of higher education opportunities caused by hukou has not weakened significantly with the continuous college enrollment expansion.The scale effect brought by the expansion of college enrollment has taken the first place,followed by the equalization effect brought by the improvement of opportunity equity.The structural effect brought by the difference of environmental factors themselves is smaller,which has limited the improvement of the comprehensive index of equitable accessibility of rural residents.

Key words: higher education opportunities, urban-rural differences, college enrollment expansion, accessibility, equity