Recently, at the Symposium on Promoting College Student Employment and Entrepreneurship at Hunan Institute of Science and Technology and the Promotion Meeting for the "Spring Initiative to Boost Employment" for the 2025 Graduates, two students stood out conspicuously among all the attending university leaders, deans, party committee secretaries of each school, and heads of various functional departments.

In addition to attending the meeting, both of them delivered special speeches to the teachers present.

From a laboratory prototype of a hydrogen fuel cell to settling in the university’s student entrepreneurship incubation base, receiving entrepreneurship subsidies from Yueyang City, winning the Gold Award in the Hunan Provincial "Challenge Cup" competition, a National Bronze Award in the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition, and securing approval from the Hunan College Student Entrepreneurship Investment Fund... This journey made Huang Xiwen, a typical "engineering student," exclaim, "The nights spent working hard and the sweat shed are all the confidence we need to face the future!"

Huang Xiwen is a student from the class of 2021 in the School of Mechanical Engineering. As he said, "From the laboratory to company registration, every step was backed by funding support, allowing us to fully focus on tackling technical challenges."

With multifaceted support, prominent participation in major conferences, and cherishing students’ entrepreneurial enthusiasm like "treasures," it is evident that college student entrepreneurship has become a key priority at Hunan Institute of Science and Technology.

Overall Planning: "Supporting College Students in Innovation and Entrepreneurship Throughout Their Journey"

During the National "Two Sessions" in March 2025, Shen Xiaoming, Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, sincerely invited young people nationwide to start businesses in Hunan. He also chaired multiple provincial symposiums on promoting college student employment and entrepreneurship, refining the "Seven One" measures. A wave of innovation and entrepreneurship is surging across the land of Hunan!

Yueyang City is also actively striving to become a national innovative city, fully implementing the "Five Entrepreneurship Linkages" of "entrepreneurship incubation + entrepreneurship training + entrepreneurship loans + entrepreneurship activities + entrepreneurship subsidies." By engaging multiple parties including the government, universities, enterprises, and social platforms, the city provides a complete chain of support for college students starting businesses in Yueyang.

The university holds a symposium on promoting college student employment and entrepreneurship and a promotion meeting for the "Spring Initiative to Boost Employment" for the 2025 graduates

"The entire university must prioritize promoting college student employment and entrepreneurship." On March 21 this year, at the symposium on promoting college student employment and entrepreneurship and the promotion meeting for the "Spring Initiative to Boost Employment" for the 2025 graduates, Zhang Guoyun, Secretary of the University Party Committee, issued a "mobilization order" to the entire university, clearly stating the requirement to systematically plan and implement detailed entrepreneurship policies, and to propose specific measures and preferential policies in areas such as mechanisms, education, incubation, policies, and publicity, fully supporting college student entrepreneurship.

On November 19, 2024, President Zeng Xiangjun attended the Hunan Institute of Science and Technology College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lecture Hall, discussing topics such as research-led practical education and the refinement and cultivation of college student innovation and entrepreneurship projects. He encouraged young students to continually hone their skills and take responsibility for Chinese modernization, "turning interests into research projects, and transforming research projects into new momentum for innovation and entrepreneurship."

In April this year, the Yueyang Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Public Legal Service Center was inaugurated at the university. The Yueyang Lawyers Association participated deeply and issued the "Yueyang Lawyers Association Proposal on Serving College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship" on-site. Such legal "escort" for entrepreneurship is rare among universities nationwide.

Guo Longyuan (second from right), a teacher from the School of Information Science and Engineering, guides students in innovative practice

On April 15, Hunan Institute of Science and Technology comprehensively implemented the "Opinions on Implementing the Employment Priority Strategy to Promote High-Quality and Full Employment" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, as well as the "Seven One" deployment requirements for supporting college student entrepreneurship from the Seventh Plenary Session of the 12th Hunan Provincial Party Committee. Centered on the university’s overall goals and based on student development, the university has strengthened the construction of a high-quality employment and entrepreneurship service system for its graduates, emphasizing entrepreneurship-driven employment, and fully advanced high-quality and full employment for graduates. The university issued the "Implementation Plan of Comprehensive Measures to Promote College Student Employment and Entrepreneurship at Hunan Institute of Science and Technology," forming a complete innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem from policies to services, safeguarding college student innovation and entrepreneurship. Further liberation and reform-driven innovation. The university will deepen cooperation with local governments and enterprises to practically solve a number of key technological issues in industry development, produce a series of original research achievements, realize the transformation of major outcomes, and deliver a strong "Hunan Institute of Science and Technology Answer" in serving regional economic and social development. The university will fully align with Hunan’s "4×4" modern industrial system and Yueyang’s "1+3+X" modern industrial system, with discipline construction as the leading force, steadfastly advancing discipline optimization and major adjustments. It will strengthen service awareness, insist on building disciplines and majors on industrial chains, and comprehensively enhance its capacity to serve high-quality regional economic and social development.

Policy Support: Comprehensive Assistance from "Paper" to "Action"

Relying on the systematic layout of the "Implementation Plan of Comprehensive Measures to Promote College Student Employment and Entrepreneurship," Hunan Institute of Science and Technology has paved a "zero-threshold, full-cycle" entrepreneurship path for students through mechanism optimization, resource integration, and funding support.

Mechanism Innovation. The university has incorporated employment and entrepreneurship into the performance assessment of leadership teams, implemented a dynamic tracking system of "weekly and monthly reports," and allocated special funds to support secondary schools in carrying out entrepreneurship incubation. The head of the Admissions, Employment and Innovation Entrepreneurship Guidance Office explained, "We have established a mechanism of 'four inclusions and one disclosure' to ensure responsibility at every stage, linking entrepreneurship outcomes directly to performance."

Reform of Talent Cultivation Models. Closely aligned with industrial needs and major characteristics, the university has built a practice-oriented entrepreneurship curriculum ecosystem, creating progressive entrepreneurship training course clusters such as "Innovation and Entrepreneurship Practice" and "College Student Entrepreneurship Practice," and establishing a full-chain practice platform from idea incubation to business implementation.

A student entrepreneur from our university receives a 200,000yuan entrepreneurship guaranteed loan issued by the Yueyang Municipal Government

Funding Support. According to the plan, the university has established a special fund for entrepreneurship support, providing up to 20,000 yuan in startup funds for high-quality projects. Enterprises entering the incubation base can also apply for additional government matching subsidies, using real financial support to solve the "first bucket of gold" challenge for student entrepreneurship. In 2025, the university, in collaboration with Nanhu New District, coordinated over 500 million yuan in entrepreneurship guaranteed loans and introduced alumni capital to form a "1:1 matching" mechanism.

Academic Safeguards. To eliminate students’ concerns, the university introduced "academic support policies," providing flexible measures to support "studying while creating": entrepreneurship students can apply for course attendance exemptions, extended study periods, or even substitute entrepreneurship outcomes for graduation theses. The head of the Academic Affairs Office stated, "We encourage students to transform classroom knowledge into market practice. This 'integration of learning and creating' model has already incubated several mature projects."

University-Locality Co-construction: Creating a "Doorstep" Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

The entrepreneurship practices at Hunan Institute of Science and Technology are inseparable from the strategic support of Yueyang City as a "provincial sub-central city." On April 15, 2025, the university signed an agreement with Yueyang Nanhu New District to co-build the Huangmeigang Wetland Park College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Incubation Base (Hunan Institute of Science and Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Incubation Base). As a key initiative in building a national innovative city, the 6,500-square-meter innovation and entrepreneurship incubation base co-built by the university and Nanhu New District has become the "heart" of regional innovation.

The university signs an agreement with Yueyang Nanhu New District to co-build a college student innovation and entrepreneurship incubation base

Guided by the principle of "resource sharing, complementary strengths, mutual benefit, and common development," the base will serve Nanhu New District’s "Sci-Tech Innovation + Culture-Tourism" industrial development strategy and the university’s goal of cultivating high-quality applied innovative talents. It will establish a collaborative education mechanism between the university and the local district, create a full-chain innovation and entrepreneurship practice platform, and provide comprehensive support—from idea generation and project incubation to achievement transformation and market implementation—for entrepreneurs including teachers and students, striving to develop the base into a dynamic engine for regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems.

Unfolding the map of the innovation and entrepreneurship incubation base, it is evident that it is located at the "geometric center" of Yueyang’s universities. Within a 2-kilometer radius, institutions such as Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, Yueyang University, Yueyang Vocational Technical College, Hunan Vocational College for Nationalities, and Hunan Petrochemical Vocational Technical College are distributed around, with the base radiating to over 60,000 nearby students. Leveraging the "sea, land, road, rail, and air" multidimensional transportation network, the base also facilitates positive interactions with Changsha, forming a "head innovation + hinterland incubation" dynamic.

Wang Yadan, Secretary of the Nanhu New District Party Working Committee, stated, "Both parties will engage in in-depth cooperation in areas such as entrepreneurship incubation, educational tourism, and talent cultivation, further advancing innovation and entrepreneurship projects and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements." Currently, the base plans to introduce faculty-student collaborative studios, covering leading industries in Yueyang such as optoelectronic technology and intelligent manufacturing.

The base has established a service system of "integrated government services + policy implementation + training empowerment." Entrepreneurs can enjoy "one-stop" government services and enhance their competitiveness through over 150 annual training sessions such as the "Entrepreneurship Youth Training Camp" and "AI Interview Simulation," building full-process support from "seedbed" to "market." In 2025, the base also collaborated with financial institutions to pilot a "Dual-Creation Fund," providing a risk-sharing mechanism for high-risk projects.

Faculty-Student Collaboration: Growing Research "Seeds" into Industrial "Trees"

At Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, "faculty-student collaboration" is not just a slogan but a "code" for frequent achievements. For example, Professor Wu Jianhui from the School of Information Science and Engineering led a team to empower the "Protecting the Clear Waters of the River" project with technology—developing an intelligent bank collapse warning system and promoting its application in the Yangtze River basin, enhancing the intelligence level of ecological protection and contributing to the ecological conservation of the Yangtze River basin. Adopting a new model of enterprise-proposed topics and student solutions, the university jointly organized a campus-level college student electronic design competition with enterprises, organically integrating student training, employment selection, and enterprise needs, forming a virtuous cycle of "promoting learning through competition, promoting teaching through competition, and promoting innovation through competition."

The entrepreneurship incubation base conducts the "Huli Youth Entrepreneurship Plan" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Camp

The university actively supports and encourages researchers to leave their posts or work concurrently with students to co-found enterprises. Those who leave their posts to co-found businesses with students can apply for a leave for entrepreneurship once, with a maximum period of three years, during which their personnel relationship may be retained.

While not affecting the completion of their primary duties, researchers working concurrently with students to co-found enterprises are allowed to continue enjoying rights such as participating in professional title evaluations, project applications, position competitions, training, assessments, and awards. Their salaries, social insurance, and other benefits remain unaffected.

Under circumstances meeting basic application conditions, the first instructors who achieve significant results in guiding college students to establish enterprises or win Bronze Awards or higher in the Golden Seed Competition may be directly recommended by the university and, after review, recognized as provincial young backbone teachers.

Quantitative scores are assigned to results from guiding college students to establish enterprises with notable effectiveness or achievements that pass the online re-evaluation or higher in the Golden Seed Competition. "Being the first instructor of a Golden Seed Cup Competition Gold Award winner" is included as a direct qualification criterion for professional title evaluations.

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To support student entrepreneurship, the university has introduced several measures encouraging researchers to collaborate with students in entrepreneurship and to guide student entrepreneurship. "Substantial and sincere," said an excited researcher at the university.

Students from our university win a National Bronze Award in the China International College Students’ Innovation Competition (2024)

The budding self-entrepreneurship awareness among students serves as a continuous "source of motivation." Zhong Yi from the School of Economics and Management is only a sophomore this year. As a former military veteran, he has taken the word "strive" to the extreme. He runs market errands and negotiates partnerships during the day, stays up late working on planning proposals at night, and sleeps on a makeshift bed in the studio when tired. His efforts have paid off: the Junshan Rape Flower Festival has become a new name card for rural tourism, Huangxiu Farming Park has increased income for surrounding farmers, and the VR shooting game "Yunmengze" is in the works. Zhong Yi admitted frankly: "Even after taking off the military uniform, I can still continue to write a glorious chapter!"

Hunan’s "fertile ground for entrepreneurship" is rising. The practices of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology are a microcosm of Hunan Province’s "College Student Entrepreneurship Strategy." From the "invitation" of the Yuelu Summit to the promotion at the National Two Sessions, Hunan is attracting young people globally with "low-cost entrepreneurship and high-quality living." As Provincial Party Committee Secretary Shen Xiaoming said, "Hunan’s future lies in its youth. This is always a place where you can start your journey with just a backpack."

The arrival of entrepreneurship support and incentive funds marks a new starting point for Hunan Institute of Science and Technology’s entrepreneurship journey. Here, policies have warmth, resources have density, and services have precision, allowing every "whimsical" idea to find fertile ground for growth. As Huang Xiwen and others burn the midnight oil in laboratories, and Zhong Yi and others explore markets in fields, the entrepreneurship stories of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology’s youth are writing even grander chapters.

At this moment, the land of Hunan has sounded the "Youth Assembly Call"—entrepreneurial youth of Hunan Institute of Science and Technology, take your positions!

(Editor: Li Jianhong; Preliminary Review: Guo Yunfeng; Final Review: Si Nianwei)