A total of 130,000 graduates from Chinese universities and colleges are expected to join the army this winter, a record number in the country that wants to uplift the quality of servicemen while grappling with job crisis.

Ministry of Education said Wednesday that graduates who had signed up in June for military service should report to recruiting stations across the country early next month when annual conscription work begins.

Those who did not register beforehand could also apply for joining the army. If recruited, every student-turned soldier will receive a one-off refund of up to 24,000 yuan (3,500 U.S. dollars) as a compensation to college tuition fees or student loans.

The money, paid by central government's budget, roughly equals to the tuition fee for the four-year university education in China.

"This means the state pays for university education of those servicemen," said Zhang Haoming, deputy director of the ministry's department for college student affairs.

And this was just part of privilege policies announced this year to encourage more Chinese youth with higher education background to serve in the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

They will have more chances of getting promoted or receiving education at military academies. After finishing the two-year compulsory service, they are promised to enjoy preference while seeking jobs at police and other law-enforcement departments.

The PLA recruits are usually young men aged between 18 and 20 and young women of 18 or 19. But the age limit can be extended to 24 for those with a bachelor degree.

The Chinese army previously relied mostly on high school graduates and the unemployed, although all males aged 18 to 22 are nominally obliged to undergo two years of service according to the country's conscription law.

Most college students just take part in month-long military training, usually in their first month of campus life.

China's State Council, or Cabinet, revised the government's recruitment regulations in September 2001 to enlist college students for the first time in a pilot scheme. More than 2,000 students were recruited in that year.

The move to recruit more college graduates has been seen as Chinese army's efforts to sharpen its high-tech edge.

The crunch of job market since last year due to global economic downturn and extra supply of graduates was also driving many youth to choose the army as an alternative employment.

A Defense Ministry survey in July found that among over 6 million college and university graduates, about 1.44 million male graduates were interested in military service.