BEIJING -?Within one month, more than 60,000 Chinese university students have volunteered to participate in an annual program to serve in the country's western regions after their graduation, according to a statement from the program's organizer Tuesday.

This year's program is accepting volunteer applications from April 19 to May 20. There are about 17,600 vacancies for the program, 2,600 more from last year, the statement added.

The eight-year-old "Go West" program, which was jointly launched by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in 2003, aims to select university students to perform volunteer work for no more than three years in the country's less-developed western regions in the education, health, agriculture and social management sectors.

In a circular jointly issued earlier by the ministries, authorities encouraged students to be more active in volunteering for the program.

The authorities also promised more favorable policies for the volunteer students, such as larger allowances during their work in the west regions, and favorable terms for employment after completing the volunteer work.