Abstract: Under the resource-driven development model, excessive competition exists among universities in China, which runs counter to the ecological requirements of higher education. Based on the fundamental logic of connotative development, promoting the transition of universities from non-cooperative competition to cooperative development based on organic co-opetition is an effective measure to optimize the higher education structure and transform governance mechanisms. Accordingly, this paper proposes university cluster development as an implementation approach to explore a new model of collaborative development among universities. From the trajectory of higher education development and governance in China, university cluster development has a long history and is currently backed by sufficient practical demands and strong policy support. In practice, guided by a clustering mindset, the integration and collaborative development of regional higher education have become crucial strategic components of innovative higher education development. Meanwhile, university alliances provide a feasible implementation path for cluster development. However, in the construction of the university cluster development model and the implementation of the strategy, a series of tensions also exist, such as those between university clusters and the autonomy of universities as independent legal entities, as well as between the common interests of the clusters and the individual demands of the universities. Active adaptations are required to reconcile these tensions, thereby ensuring the full functioning of university cluster development.