Government asked to repay universities' $73b debt

The government should take responsibility for repaying the debts of Chinese universities, which stand at over 500 billion yuan ($73 billion), the top official of one of the most renowned educational institutes said yesterday.

"Universities have no reason to pay back their debts," said Zhou Qifeng, president of the Peking University, on the sidelines of the National People's Congress (NPC) session.

"Colleges cannot make money nurturing talents. The government should take the responsibility of paying all our debts," said the NPC delegate.