About 200 university graduates in Hong Kong have or will soon set off to various Chinese mainland cities as interns, said a Hong Kong official on Tuesday.

The cities include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Panyu and Hangzhou.

Speaking at a ceremony for the Internship Program for University Graduates on Tuesday, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government's Commissioner for Labor Cherry Tse said the program provides 4,000 places for university graduates to work as interns and receive training for six to 12 months in local or Chinese mainland enterprises. Up to 1,000 places are earmarked for Chinese mainland internships.

For local internships, graduates receive training in their capacity as employees and are paid wages commensurate with the duties, responsibilities and content of the training posts. An employer is eligible to receive a training subsidy of 2,000 HK dollars per intern per month.

Mainland internships are not premised on an employment relationship. Interns are entitled to a living allowance of 3,000 HK dollars per month and depending on circumstances, an accommodation allowance of 1,500 HK dollars per month from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.

Tse said as of October 15, about 1,000 graduates have been employed by local enterprises as interns under the program. Their average monthly salary is 8,800 HK dollars and the highest offer is 22,000 HK dollars.