The Hangzhou Qiantang New Area and Zhejiang Gongshang University ink a cooperative agreement, to build a college for cross-border e-commerce, on June 27. [Photo/chinanews.com.cn]

The Hangzhou Qiantang New Area and Zhejiang Gongshang University signed a strategic agreement on June 27 to build a college to teach about cross-border e-commerce, local media reported.

Located in Qiantang New Area, the institute is designed to be a cradle for cultivating cross-border e-commerce talent and providing support for Alibaba's Electronic World Trade Platform, which helps small businesses and entrepreneurs build globalized businesses.

Officials said it is also of great significance for Hangzhou to take the lead in cross-border e-commerce business in China.

Open to domestic and overseas students in countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, the joint venture will recruit 100 students per year while running schools in overseas BRI countries.

Cross-border e-commerce has become a new driving force for foreign trade development and a new engine for the industrial transformation of the Qiantang New Area, according to a local official.

As one of the earliest universities engaged in e-commerce research in China, Zhejiang Gongshang University is the only university in Zhejiang that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in cross-border e-commerce. It now houses over 2,000 overseas students from 100 countries and regions across the world.

"The e-commerce major of our school is well equipped and has brought out students for 14 years," said Chen Shoucan, president of the university, adding that it lays a solid foundation for international education about cross-border e-commerce.

Home to over 500 cross-border e-commerce giants -- including NetEase Kaola and Tmall Global -- Qiantang New Area has achieved a total of 153 million cross-border import business transactions to date, with the transaction value amounting to 29.5 billion yuan ($4.3 billion), accounting for more than 80 percent of the city's total.