Last year, the central government vowed to help Xinjiang achieve "leap-frog development and lasting stability" in five years.

The plans adopted by the autonomous region's government call for hastening the development of cities, for building modern industries and for modernizing the practice of animal husbandry, among other things. The government's goal is to put the local per capita gross domestic product on par with China's average GDP by 2015.

Zhang Chunxian, who was appointed Xinjiang's top official a year ago, said the government has been paying great attention to the unemployment issue. He himself has received letters of complaint from distressed young graduates and their parents.

"The employment of college graduates is a major quality-of-life issue," said Zhang, who is Party chief of Xinjiang. "It concerns ethnic unity and the balance of economic development."

According to government figures, Xinjiang is home to about 70,000 new college graduates every year, about 80 percent of whom find jobs upon graduation.

Liu said the government expects the training to not only make young people better job candidates but also to open their eyes and broaden their minds.

He said the program is popular among the young, adding that even those who were graduated 10 years ago are taking part.

Ruzgul Aishan, a biology major graduated from Xinjiang's Kashgar Normal College in 2007, told China Daily that it is "depressingly difficult" to get a biology-related job in her hometown of Maigaiti, a remote, underdeveloped county in Kashgar prefecture.

"My hometown is a typical agricultural county," said the 27-year-old Uygur woman. "So I chose to study farm machinery in Shandong province. The knowledge I get there will be very useful for the development of my town.

"It's my first time to go outside Xinjiang and leave home for so long. I feel very excited to see the outside world."

Another 20 jobless college graduates from the county, a majority of them being women, will go to Rizhao, in Shandong province, to take internships in agro-technical stations, farm-machinery stations and other agriculture-related institutions.

"I hope these students can work as 'messengers' between the two places," said Arzgul Kadier, a tutor of Ruzgul's team. "They will learn about practical technologies and gain practical abilities from Shandong, and then show the best of Xinjiang to the people there."

Ureri Kurban, 28, is leaving for an internship in Shenzhen, an economic boomtown in South China's Guangdong province.

The graduate from Kashgar Normal College said that he thought the opportunity "was almost too good to be true."

Ureri Kurban did odd jobs and had a meager monthly income of 700 yuan before enrolling in the program. He said he cannot wait to set foot on seashores and in soccer stadiums, places he has never visited before.

"This may be the beginning of a happier life," Kurban said.

While observers eagerly await the early results of the program, some analysts say it is even more important to reform the college education system and to teach students practical knowledge that they can rely on to make a good living.

"Although the program seems to be the right solution for the moment, in the long run, the market, not the government, should work to make sure there are jobs for college graduates," said Li Xiaoxia, a researcher with the Academy of Social Sciences of Xinjiang.