BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- The number of college graduates in China has crossed 40 million over the past five years, with over 77 percent getting the first job before graduation, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said Tuesday.

As the innovation and entrepreneurship education in Chinese colleges improves, college graduates are encouraged and guided to get employed at primary-level positions. In 2019, 69 percent of fresh college graduates found jobs at the prefecture level or below, and 59 percent found work in China's central and western regions, said Liu Changya, head of the Department of Development Planning at the MOE.

In recent years, Chinese higher education institutions have undertaken over 60 percent of elementary and key scientific research missions, built more than 60 percent of key national laboratories, and won over 60 percent of the country's three major scientific awards with a series of world-class scientific accomplishments, Liu said.