Employment Photo: VCG

 
China's Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education jointly issued a notice on Tuesday to standardize the management for utilizing the Lottery Public Welfare Fund to support the innovation and entrepreneurship oriented education for college students as the nation is ramping up efforts to promote youth employment. 

The notice stressed that the fund will be mainly allocated to support the construction and work of 100 national innovation and entrepreneurship projects in colleges and 100 experimental bases across the country. 

The colleges' innovation and entrepreneurship projects will carry out research into training, teaching and evaluation mechanisms based on regional requirements, while constructing targeted courses and training for local teachers. 

The experimental bases will mostly be adopted for innovation and entrepreneurship training for college students while cultivating and incubating and delivery of innovation and entrepreneurship projects. Allocated funds can be specifically used for entrepreneurship training, incubation guidance, project roadshows and other related expenditures.

Multiple provinces including South China's Guangdong and Southwest China's Yunnan have recently worked out supporting policies following the central government's guidance. 

Eligible self-employed college students in Guangdong can apply for a one-time start-up grant of 10,000 yuan ($1494.00), as well as an annual rent subsidy of 4,000 to 6,000 yuan for up to three years. Validated entrepreneurial projects can enjoy funding of 50,000 to 200,000 yuan in accordance with local standards. 

The State Council, China's cabinet, published a guidance in October 2021 to support the innovation and entrepreneurship of college students, including a range of measures and policies to optimize business environment.

For instance, the notice increased the maximum individual loan amount for college graduates to 200,000 yuan, while the maximum loan for eligible small and micro enterprises set up by college graduates increased to 3 million yuan now. 

Global Times