The government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) Monday announced that it will preliminarily provide 500 internships in major enterprises in the Chinese mainland for local college graduates, helping them to gain more work experiences.

Only Macao residents who graduate from local colleges in the 2009/2010 academic year are eligible to apply for the government- funded internship program, according to the SAR government's Labor Affairs Bureau.

The program was not aimed at solving the present job issues of the graduates, but was expected to achieve the goals of nurturing local talents and supporting the central government's relevant policy on talent development, said Shuen Ka Hung, director of the Bureau.

According to the program, the interns will have the chance to work at banks, hotels, tourist agencies, medical institutes and logistic companies, etc. in the mainland.

The SAR government will provide a sum of 5,500 patacas as monthly allowance for each intern, and the internship will basically last for six months, which can be extended based on the agreement of the interns and the employers.

In a similar program last year, the SAR government offered 1, 000 internships to the local college graduates, but merely 47 applied for the program, and most of the interns chose to work at banks in mainland's big cities.P The number of applicants was expected to be less than 500 this year but still more than last year's, and the Bureau will make effort to promote this program among the graduates, said Shuen.