More than 70 percent of college students in China said they were afraid of people with HIV, according to a recent survey.

Twenty percent of those polled said they were "very afraid" when facing people with HIV and 54 percent said they were "somewhat afraid".

The nationwide survey of 2,960 college students was conducted in November by MyCOS, an education consulting and research institute in Beijing.

Many students attribute their fear of HIV to insufficient knowledge on the disease and sexual health, while 91 percent of respondents said colleges and universities should offer more sex education.

More than half of respondents said they felt universities do not do enough to teach about prevention and control of HIV, and only 15 percent said their universities offer optional courses on sex education.

Eighty-two percent said they learned about sex from the internet, TV and radio; 59 percent learned from their friends, and 13 percent learned it from their parents.