College Student Entrepreneurship in China: Results from a National Survey of Directors of Career Services in Chinese Higher Education Institutions

Oct 15, 2026

The study examines student entrepreneurship in China using nationwide survey data drawn from directors of career services at 840 Chinese colleges and universities. It reports that graduates show strong entrepreneurial intention but comparatively few actually start businesses, and survival rates remain limited. The research further finds higher-status universities tend to provide stronger entrepreneurial guidance practices. Based on the results, governments and universities are urged to cultivate entrepreneurial spirit, encourage opportunity-driven entrepreneurship, and offer startup support aligned with real needs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Literature Review

College Student Entrepreneurship in China: Results from a National Survey of Directors of Career Services in Chinese Higher Education Institutions You You Graduate School of Education, Peking University Feifei Zhu Graduate School of Education, Peking University Xiaohao Ding Graduate School of Education, Peking University As the number of college graduates increases dramatically in recent years in China, the Chinese Central government encourages college graduates to partake in entrepreneurial activities. The current study uses data from a nationwide institutional survey of directors of career services of 840 Chinese colleges and universities to study the current situation of student entrepreneurship and relevant institutional guidance practices. Our results show that, although China’s college graduates have a high level of entrepreneurial intention, the actual entrepreneurship population is low, and the entrepreneurship survival rate is not high. Among all colleges and universities, directors of career services in most competitive universities rate higher to the entrepreneurial guidance practices provided in their institutions. Our findings suggest that governments and higher education institutions should pay attention to cultivating college students’ entrepreneurial spirit, encouraging opportunity entrepreneurship, as well as providing substantial startup supports based on actual needs. Introduction In view of entrepreneurial activities playing an important role in aspects such as creating employment opportunities, increasing productivity and promoting national economic development (Audretsch & Keilbach, 2003; Wong, Ho, & Autio, 2005), many countries encourage entrepreneurship to alleviate poverty and promote national economic growth (Van Stel, Storey, & Thurik, 2006) . Existing literature has documented the importance of entrepreneurial talent on China’s economic development since the 1980s. It is argued that the movement of entrepreneurial talents (e.g., peasant turned entrepreneurs, bureaucrat-turned entrepreneurs, overseasreturning and engineer-turned entrepreneurs) from traditional sectors (government, agriculture) to business activities has enabled China to realize its economic boom (Zhang et al., 2010) . Unlike the fast growth of China’s economy since the 1980s, the overall size of China’s higher education was relatively small before 1999. According to UNESCO, the 1996 gross college enrollment ratio in China was only 5% . This ratio was lower than that in India (6.3%), whose GDP per capita was less than one-half of China’s, and was much lower than those in Thailand (20.7%) and in Philippines (28.8%), where the GDP per capita was equivalent to China’s. In 1999, China began the largest and longest continuous expansion in higher education, and its overall college enrollments outnumbered the US (the largest higher education system of the time) in less than ten years. As a result, the number of college graduates has dramatically increased, thus leading to greater employment pressure on college students in the 21st century. The Chinese Central Government has published a number of policies to encourage college students and graduates to actively partake in entrepreneurial activities since the late 1990s, in the hope of rendering entrepreneurship as a new growth point in driving college student employment. Along with China’s economic “new normal,” the Chinese Central Government proposed the “mass entrepreneurship and innovation”policy in 2015 to promote China’s entrepreneurial activities toward a climax. As the key to entrepreneurship is innovative talent, Chinese central and provincial-level governments expect college students, who are persons of high quality and high ability, to serve as a strong reserve force of entrepreneurial activity. Chinese universities also carry out the practices for the entrepreneurship education of college students, provide venture funds and services, and establish startup hub

FAQs

What data does the study use to analyze college student entrepreneurship in China?

The study uses nationwide survey data collected from directors of career services at 840 Chinese colleges and universities.

What does the study find about entrepreneurial intention versus actual entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurial intention is high among China’s college graduates, but the actual number who start entrepreneurship is low, and the business survival rate is not high.

How do institutional guidance practices differ across universities?

Directors of career services in more competitive universities rate higher regarding the entrepreneurial guidance practices provided by their institutions.

Oct 15, 2026

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