Constructing a high-quality higher education system is the basic premise of Chinese-style higher education modernization, and digitization is the key means to promote its high-quality development. This paper measures the level of high-quality development and digitization of higher education in each region based on the provincial panel data of China from 2012 to 2022, and empirically analyzes the effects and mechanisms of digitization by using econometric models. It is found that digitization has a significantly positive effect on the high-quality development of higher education, especially in economically developed regions with higher levels of human capital. The mechanism analysis shows that digitalization significantly improves the quality of education by optimizing the allocation of resources. In addition, there is an obvious threshold effect of the impact of digitization on the high-quality development of higher education.