BEIJING — The Chinese military will increase the proportion of university graduates in its 2020 recruitment.

The move is to send more high-quality personnel to the army, according to a document jointly issued by the Ministry of Education and the department of defense mobilization under the Central Military Commission.

The document ordered smoother channels for university students to enlist amid the COVID-19 epidemic. "In military recruitment, priority should be given to those who have worked on the front line battling the coronavirus and their children, especially college graduates," it said.

Starting from 2021, the scale of a special postgraduate enrollment program for retired college soldiers will be expanded from 5,000 to 8,000, the document said.

Measures will be rolled out to facilitate the employment of retired college soldiers. For example, a special job-hunting section for retired college soldiers will be launched on the "24365" platform, an official online recruitment platform for university graduates, the document noted.

China has changed its military recruitment from once a year to twice a year, starting from 2020. This year's military recruitment runs until Aug 15.