Mainland students raring to launch new businesses

BEIJING — Students in China are eager to start businesses and hope that their colleges can provide more opportunities to fos- ter entrepreneurship, according to a survey from a universities’ alliance ear- lier this month. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Educa- tion Alliance of China or IEEAC is a platform for universities to share their experience in entrepre- neurship and nurture stu- dents’ innovative and entrepreneurship spirit. The IEEAC surveyed students from 130 colleg- es, and more than 80 per- cent of students said they are willing to start busi- nesses. Nearly half of the stu- dents surveyed hoped to receive training and finan- cial support for entrepre- neurship from colleges. Only 17 percent of start- up projects in colleges provide overseas exchange and cooperation opportunities, according to the survey. “We should promote preneurship, as well as cooperation between col- leges and enterprises,” said Sun Hongbin, secre- tary-general of the IEEAC. According to the Minis- try of Education, 7.95 mil- lion college students are expected to graduate this year. Around 3 percent of this year’s college graduates are expected to start busi- by the educational research company MyCOS Institute and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “It is important for stu- dents to learn about the country’s policies and evaluate their skills before starting businesses,” said Zhu Zhuohong from the CAS.