The Beijing municipal government announced yesterday that 20,000 of the city's college graduates were set to compete for select village official posts scattered around the capital's outskirts, with only 3,000 eventually being chosen.

By early March, it was noted that 12,000 college graduates hailing from universities across Beijing had submitted applications to work as rural officials in villages dotted around the capital, said a municipal government spokesman. The municipal government has set itself a target of placing at least one graduate in each of 3,987 villages within three years to assist the village leaders.

Should this plan proceed apace, another 3,000 graduates will join the roster by the end of 2008, providing two college graduates for each chosen village.

Last year, from an initial pool of 10,000 applicants, 2,016 college graduates were selected to work as assistants to village heads or Party secretaries.

Since June 2005, the Chinese government has given incentives for college graduates to work in rural areas. The goal outlined above for villages near Beijing will hopefully be extended nationwide within the next three to five years.

This year's "No.1 document" issued jointly by the State Council and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), made clear the priority in getting college graduates and secondary vocational school graduates to work in villages in order to facilitate rural development.

Urban job-seekers have recently seen their employment prospects dwindle, so college graduates are becoming increasingly attracted to the idea of moving to rural areas where responsibility and experience can be acquired. To sweeten this offer, the government has promised those who work for three years or more in villages that they will receive preferential treatment when applying for jobs in government departments or large companies.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2007)