College graduates going to western China to work will find themselves in a win-win situation. They will get experience and training, the western regions will acquire much-needed skilled personnel, and China as a whole will realize a more balanced distribution of human resources.

The Communist Youth League Central Committee and the Ministry of Education launched their joint campaign earlier this month.

The campaign plans to recruit 5,000 to 6,000 graduating students every year to volunteer to work in the west, where they will each work for a year or two. The programme has proven popular and more than 40,000 graduates nationwide applied to join this year.

China's western regions are relatively undeveloped and have long been affected by a serious brain drain. The 12 provinces and autonomous regions have 28.8 per cent of China's total population but only 15.5 per cent of its university-educated people, professionals and skilled workers.

The government launched its western development campaign in 1999, introducing preferential policies and taking arduous efforts to develop these regions. For several years now, the Communist Youth League has arranged for graduating students to volunteer to work there.

A new phenomenon is that the government and graduates are taking a much more pragmatic attitude towards the western development campaign.

No longer merely emphasizing selfless devotion and sacrifice, the government has carried out a series of measures to encourage students to go to the western regions. These include a monthly allowance of 600 yuan (US$72) for each person, guaranteed local managerial positions, and favourable conditions for later recruitment or study when the volunteers leave western China after their contracts end. All these measures have proved attractive at a time when the country's overall employment situation is not rosy.

About 2.12 million college students are graduating this summer - 670,000 more than last year. Therefore, there are no grounds for excessive optimism that everyone can find a job to their satisfaction, especially when the job market has been hit hard by the SARS epidemic.

The campaign does not offer a great number of jobs, but it has introduced a new direction for talented young people hoping to pursue a career.

Indeed, working for a year or two in tough circumstances provides a great opportunity to acquire experience and training. Many students who registered admitted that the service would help them become more adaptable and improve their skills, which could benefit their future lives remarkably.

These qualities are also valued by many employers. Some companies have already given goodwill gestures to students going to work in the western regions. The Haiwang Group Co, a high-tech pharmaceutical company in Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province, has pledged that it will accept 200 of the students when they return. The company said that it welcomes hard-working and responsible workers with a team spirit.

As for the western regions, they are happy to see more talented personnel arriving. The volunteers are expected to work in underdeveloped counties and towns in the fields of education, public health, farming technology and poverty alleviation.

Normally, the market system is weak when it comes to encouraging qualified personnel to stay in these sectors due to the limited economic rewards. Now, with strong support from the central government, the vast western regions are expected to enjoy a favourable environment for development. Skilled personnel, well-educated people and professionals are expected to find a good place there to give full play to their talent.

For the government, encouraging college graduates to work in the western regions will help better distribute human resources. In a sense, this is more vital than redistributing capital for economic development.

The students can find positions that suit them in building western China, and those regions and China as a whole will also benefit.