The Ministry of Education has ordered higher-learning institutions across the nation to offer one-on-one employment assistance for millions of graduates, many of whom are struggling to land a job.

This is in an employment-support package of the ministry to implement a circular of the State Council, which asked local authorities to create supportive policies to help graduates find jobs.

China will have about 6.6 million college graduates in 2011. Last year, the figure was 6.3 million, according to figures from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Other measures in the package stipulate that schools with adequate resources should also provide job-hunting allowances to graduates.

Local education departments and higher-learning institutions should encourage graduates to work at a grassroots level, start up their own businesses, and take job-hunting services, the ministry ordered.

It also ordered them to arrange more on-site and Internet job fairs for graduates with a much larger number of job openings.

Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang last week reiterated the importance of creating jobs for millions of college graduates, stating that he believes the employment situation for prospective job-seekers will be difficult this year.