Public Policy Support for Digital Literacy Education for College and Universitystudents

Abstract

Entering the third decade of the 21st century, digital literacy, as the core competitiveness of modern citizens, is profoundly reshaping the landscape of talent training in higher education. This study focuses on the interaction mechanism between public policy and college and university students' digital competence development, and reveals the key role of policy tools in bridging the digital divide. Based on the systematic investigation of existing policies, combined with the empirical investigation and typical case analysis of four universities, I construct a four-dimensional implementation framework based on policy leverage, covering core dimensions such as policy supply, resource allocation, capacity building and effect evaluation. The cross-regional tracking data collected by the research team shows that policy synergies between infrastructure development and curriculum innovation can improve education outcomes by up to 42%, while inclusive policies on access to digital resources can increase the ability of disadvantaged students to use technology by 27 percentage points. In the process of argumentation, it is pointed out that the construction of a digital literacy education ecosystem needs to break through the traditional governance model and form a policy closed loop in the dimensions of financial support, teacher training, and evaluation system, especially to solve the dual dilemma of lagging equipment update in colleges and universities in remote areas and the aggravation of the digital divide among urban students. These findings provide an empirical basis for the optimization of the policy toolbox of education administrations, and open up a new methodological path for universities to implement digital transformation strategies.