In 2003, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, in accordance with the spirit of the executive meeting of the State Council and the national conference on college graduates' employment, jointly implemented the plan of college students' voluntary service in the west, recruited a certain number of fresh graduates or graduate students from ordinary colleges and universities, and carried out volunteer service work at the grass-roots level in the west for 1-3 years, Encourage volunteers to take root in local employment and start businesses after their service expires.

According to the service content, the Western Plan is divided into seven special projects, namely, basic education, service for agriculture, rural areas and farmers, medical and health care, youth work at the grassroots level, social management at the grassroots level, service for Xinjiang, and service for Tibet. The scale of implementation of the Western Plan in 2018 is 18300 people, including more than 2100 members of the graduate student support group of the China Youth Volunteer Poverty Alleviation Relay Program.

Over the 15 years since the implementation of the Western Plan, more than 270000 college student volunteers have been selected to serve at the grass-roots level in 22 provinces, autonomous regions and cities in the central and western regions and more than 2100 counties, cities and banners of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. Since the implementation of the Western Plan, the comprehensive results have been obvious. As a practical education project, it guides young people with idealistic feelings to further strengthen their ideals and beliefs, temper their will and character, and sublimate their volunteer feelings through the hot western grass-roots practice; As an employment promotion project, guide and help college graduates to establish a correct concept of employment, and build channels and platforms for them to go to the west, to the grass-roots level, to the motherland and the people's most needed places to do business; As a talent flow project, it encourages and guides college students in the east and central regions to work and live in the west at the grass-roots level, and promotes the regional flow of outstanding talents; As a poverty alleviation project, we will take the volunteers of the Western Plan as the carrier to promote the co construction of schools and cities, and guide university resources to participate in the local poverty alleviation work.

The Western Plan is a sub project of the National Major Talent Project "Grassroots Training Plan for College Graduates" and one of the five special projects to guide and encourage college graduates to work at the grass-roots level. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council pay great attention to the volunteers of the Western Plan, and attach great importance to the Western Plan and the work of the graduate education support group. General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly given instructions or replied letters to volunteers, affirming that volunteers have worked hard and made silent contributions in the western region, making contributions to the local economic and social development, national unity and progress, encouraging more and more young people to follow the example of volunteers, to make contributions to the grassroots and the people, and let the flowers of youth bloom in places where the motherland needs most, Write a wonderful life in the great practice of realizing the Chinese Dream.