The school has opened an apprenticeship class with Guangxi Hugui Food Group to train e-commerce students for the company. It also provides training classes for workers outside the college.

Liu Cong, a student in the apprenticeship class, told chinanews.com the luosifen industry is highly promising. "The courses combine theory and practice, and we can work at a luosifen company after graduation, which means I don't need to worry about looking for a job," Liu said.

A national intangible cultural heritage and pillar industry in Liuzhou, the output value of the local luosifen trade rose from 500 million yuan in 2014 to 20 billion yuan this year. The number of luosifen restaurants and related online stores based in Liuzhou has reached about 10,000 and 15,000 respectively, according to the local authorities.

Daily output of prepackaged luosifen in Liuzhou reached 5.01 million packets, with sales of more than 9.1 billion yuan from January to June－the latter a year-on-year rise of about 82 percent, data from the Liuzhou Customs authorities show. Offline restaurant sales stood at 9.72 billion yuan. Luosifen exports from January to May to markets such as the United States, Australia, Singapore and European countries reached 9.8 million yuan.

Wei Yangnian, general manager of Guangxi Zhongliu Food Technology Co, said the company started out as a family workshop, but it lacks experienced workers with good educational backgrounds. It is cooperating with the luosifen industry school to train workers.

"The school will also help us train high-level professionals, especially e-commerce talent and food engineers," Wei said.

The company's luosifen production used to be carried out manually, and recruitment advertisements were pasted on walls seeking unemployed women to work on its assembly lines. Now, with automation accounting for 80 percent to 90 percent of production, the company needs more managers, technicians and food quality control experts. "We plan to recruit 10 postgraduate students this year," Wei said.

Employees are also urgently needed by the company for its new factory, which is due to open in the middle of next month.

Students from the school will work as interns at the company next month, and Wei said he believes this intake can meet demand.

The company also works with the luosifen industry school to develop new flavors, packaging design and e-commerce. "Cooperation between companies and schools helps promote development of the industry," Wei said.