The government plans to recruit 3,000 university graduates this year, 1,000 more than last year, to work as assistants to village heads or Party secretaries in suburban areas.

People interested in jobs in Beijing's rural villages and townships can submit applications to the Beijing Municipal Personnel Bureau or online at www.bjbys.com from February 1 through March 15.

"We hope university graduates will seize this opportunity to use their knowledge in rural villages and to start their careers," Sun Zhenyu, deputy director of Beijing Personnel Bureau, told Xinhua News Agency.

Government promise

The municipal government has promised successful candidates a monthly salary of 2,000 yuan ($250) in the first year, 2,500 yuan ($320) the second year and 3,000 yuan ($385) the third year, provided their performance is up to the required standards, Sun said.

Beijing first introduced its "go to the countryside" employment program last year. Some 2,000 university graduates found grassroots-level jobs in the countryside last year.

Wang Lina, who graduated from Beijing Union University last year, was part of the first batch of graduates to find work in the city's countryside.

After majoring in industrial and commercial administration, Wang served as the assistant to the village head of Ertiaojie Village in suburban Beijing's Pinggu District.

For one project, Wang contacted people at the Beijing Academy of Agricultural Sciences and arranged for the local farmers to receive training in strawberry planting.

Her efforts paid off. The village reaped a plentiful harvest of organic strawberries earlier this year.

Nationwide, about 150,000 university graduates found employment in rural areas last year, according to figures provided by the Ministry of Education.

The ministry predicts that 4.95 million students will graduate from institutions of higher learning across the country this year, 820,000 more than last year.

About 1.4 million of them are unlikely to find jobs when they graduate.

200,000 graduates

In Beijing, a record 200,000 people are expected to graduate from university this year, 20,000 more than last year. Less than half of them are expected to be offered jobs, according to the personnel bureau.

The central government issued a circular in July 2005, calling on university graduates to seek jobs at the grassroots level so as to reverse the shortage of professionals in rural areas and to ease unemployment in cities.