A student leads her classmates reciting a text in Mandarin at Hotan Teachers College on April 19. Cai Guodong / Xinhua

Learning the Uygur language is also helpful for Han students who want to work in southern Xinjiang, where bilingual education is in short supply, according to Zhang.

Hotan prefecture is known for its harsh natural conditions and poverty. Hotan Teachers College had trouble enrolling Han students before it started recruiting them directly from other provinces and regions in 2005.

More than a decade later, the population of Han students and teachers at the college has increased from 5.5 percent in 2005 to 25 percent in 2015.

Zhang said his class had 40 students when he was a student there. Twenty-five of his classmates were from outside Xinjiang. After graduation, 35 of his classmates chose to find jobs in Xinjiang.

Since 2010, 526 of the college's 583 graduates recruited from other provinces have chosen to stay in Xinjiang.

Ababekri Ablet, the president of the college, said Han students from inland provinces get to live, learn and communicate with Uygur students and teachers at the college and that sets them up to find work in the region.

"After graduation, they are willing to start their careers here," he said.

To help improve the employment rate, Jurat Dolat, the college's student affairs department head, said the institution will hold a series of lectures and training events this year to boost students' skills, so they can hunt for a wider rage of jobs, in addition to teaching.

"We encourage our students to broaden their vision when it comes to careers, and try some work opportunities in other fields, like being a civil servant or working in the private sector," he said.

Mamatemin Gojaabdula, general manager of an international trade company in Hotan, led a delegation to the job fair in search of talent.

"We are a fast-developing company that makes and sells handmade carpets, so we are particularly in need of young talent with ability," he said. "Hotan Teachers College nurtured lots of such people and we hired six satisfactory graduates last year, so we came again."