Kunming opens entrepreneurship base for South & Southeast Asian students

The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base for South & Southeast Asian Students of Yunnan Minzu University(YMU) has been set up in the Kunming FTZ area in Guandu district, better serving  international students who start businesses and work in the zone.

Established in 1951, YMU has set up cooperation ties with over 80 universities in 20 countries including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

It started receiving international students since 1981, among the first universities of Yunnan to do so, and has accumulated abundant experience in cultivating overseas students.

It is one of two universities in China, the other being Beijing Foreign Studies University, that offers language teaching for all 15 official languages of the South and Southeast Asian countries.

The university has been visited by over 100,000 distinguished international leaders, statesmen, experts, and scholars such as Queen Elizabeth II, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, Norwegian King Harald V, and late Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh.

There is a reason for choosing Guandu. As part of the Kunming FTZ area, it is home to more than 270,000 market entities and the consulates general of Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos. It is an important window for foreign economic and trade cooperation and international exchanges in Kunming and even Yunnan.

It has focused on institutional innovation and shaped itself as a spearhead in opening up and freeing trade and investment towards South and Southeast Asia.

Guandu district will give support policies for talent development, and improve services such as policy consultation and foreign affairs services.