A Chinese billionaire gave the initial capital of 300 million yuan ($45.6 million) to the first special fund for cybersecurity launched by the government on Tuesday, Feb. 2, the Global Times reported.
Zheng Jiachun, the president of Hong Kong-based Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Group and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, provided the fund's initial endowment.
"The endowment shows support for the development of national cybersecurity," Wang Xiujun, deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), said.
According to the report, the China Internet Development Foundation (CIDF) established the fund, which will be used to provide financial assistance to experts and teachers who specialize in cybersecurity. The fund will also support promising Chinese students taking up cybersecurity, as well as training centers for cybersecurity talent.
During the launch, Vice Minister of Education Lin Huiqing stressed the significance of nurturing cybersecurity talent to achieve the nation's aim to become a strong Internet power.
Lin said that Chinese universities are now offering new majors on cybersecurity, information countermeasures and confidential management, with the number of such majors exceeding 120 while cyberspace-related majors will surpass 4,800.
"Under the nation's goal, education of cyberspace talent has been in short supply in China and everything is at the startup stage, from educational materials to qualified teachers," Qin An, director of the China Institute of Cyberspace Strategy, told the Global Times.
Qin said that students will be trained how to respond to online threats, including terrorism and cybercrimes, and defend the country in cyberspace.
China has started to encourage universities to open cyberspace-related majors in 2015, which indicated the progress made toward a standardized education model, Fang Binxing, an expert on network information security at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said. He also noted that over 30 universities now offer cyberspace-related majors.
A Xinhua News Agency report quoted Zhao Zeliang, a CAC official, as saying that more than 8,000 students graduate with cyberspace-related degrees every year, and 700 million people in China have access to the Internet.