The finals of the seventh China International College Students' "Internet Plus" Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition will open on Tuesday at Nanchang University in East China's Jiangxi province, according to the Ministry of Education.

Wu Yan, director of the ministry's Department of Higher Education, said a total of 9.56 million students from 4,347 universities in 121 countries and regions have signed up for this year's competition, up by 51 percent from last year, he said at a news conference on Saturday.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging globally, more than 15,600 students from 117 countries and regions abroad have participated in the competition this year, marking an increase of 74 percent year-on-year, Wu said.

They include students from world-renowned universities such as Harvard, Oxford University and Cambridge, he said.

With the increase in its scale, this year's competition has increased the number of projects for finals from 1,600 last year to 3,500 this year, while the number of gold medals was raised from 158 last year to 320 this year, he said.

The competition has been held every year since 2015, Wu said, with 25.33 million students taking part in it.

The projects that have won gold medals in past competitions have created more than 500,000 new jobs, he added.

"The scale and quality of the competition has kept improving and it has become the most influential and extensive innovation and entrepreneurship competition for college students in China."

Universities in China have opened more than 30,000 courses on innovation and entrepreneurship. They also have employed almost 35,000 full-time teachers and 139,000 working part time to assist students' innovation and entrepreneurship efforts, he said.

Zhou Chuangbing, president of Nanchang University, said the university has made all the preparations for the upcoming finals, with more than 2,000 faculty members and more than 3,000 students serving as volunteers.

More than 12,000 students at the university participated in this year's competition, up by 45 percent from last year, he said.

This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the university, and as the university prepares for the finals, it has made significant improvements to campus facilities and equipment, he said.

To prevent the risks of the COVID-19 epidemic, international teams and those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as students from the Chinese mainland and in high and medium-risk areas, will participate via video link, he added.