Chinese students eager to start businesses: Survey

BEIJING — Students in China are eager to start businesses and hope that their colleges can provide more opportunities to foster entrepreneurship, according to a survey from a universities alliance Tuesday.

The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education Alliance of China (IEEAC) is a platform for universities to share their experience in entrepreneurship and nurture students' innovative and entrepreneurship spirit.

The IEEAC surveyed students from 130 colleges, and more than 80 percent of students said they are willing to start businesses.

Nearly half of the students surveyed hoped to receive training and financial support for entrepreneurship from colleges.

Only 17 percent of startup projects in colleges provide overseas exchange and cooperation opportunities, according to the survey.

"We should promote international cooperation in innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as cooperation between colleges and enterprises," said Sun Hongbin, secretary general of the IEEAC.

According to the Ministry of Education, a total of 7.95 million college students are expected to graduate in 2017.

Around 3 percent of this year's college graduates are expected to start businesses, up from only 1.6 percent of college graduates who started businesses in 2011, according to a report jointly released by the educational research company MyCOS Institute and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

"It is important for students to learn about the country's policies and evaluate their skills before starting businesses," said Zhu Zhuohong from CAS.