The aerial view of Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center. [Photo by Li Bo/Guangzhou Daily]

Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center has been selected as one of the four pilot areas around the world under a project on sustainable development of small and medium-sized cities by a Sino-British fund on July 20.

The other three pilot areas are China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, Guangzhou Development District, and Quzhou's Qujiang district in Zhejiang province. 

Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center currently is home to 13 higher education institutions and more than 200,000 innovative talents in science and education. It boasts strong advantages in carrying out innovation and entrepreneurship.

It boasts a green rate of 55 percent, as it has clustered 11 virgin ecological forests. In addition, a total of eight ecological parks and three riverside wetland parks are under planning. 

Panyu district, where Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center is located, has been a leader in the city for sustainable development.

A relevant person in charge of Panyu district's market supervision and administration bureau said that being selected as a pilot area will help to further improve Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center's sustainable development level in areas like education and scientific research, innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as ecological environment renovation.

Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center will strive to be an example of sustainable development for higher education institution clusters from both home and abroad to increase the area's global influence.