Taiwanese undergraduates at Chinese mainland universities will pay the same tuition fees as their mainland peers starting this term, which begins in September.

They also will become the beneficiaries of a newly launched scholarship fund, which will distribute funds of seven million yuan (US$864,000) every year.

The announcements were made at a press conference in Beijing yesterday by Dai Xiaofeng, director of the Department for Exchange of the Office for Taiwan Affairs of the State Council.

When the new university term begins next month, Taiwanese students will be charged the same tuition and boarding fees as their mainland classmates who live in the same dorms and study at the same colleges, Dai said.

Wu Guosheng, an official with the Ministry of Finance, said a scholarship would be awarded to 20 percent of Taiwanese students studying on the mainland every year.

The ministry will also offer special subsidies of about 8,000 yuan (US$918) per student per year to institutions that enroll Taiwanese students, based on the extra educational costs they incur, Wu said.

Ding Yuqiu, deputy director of the Office for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan under the Ministry of Education, said Taiwanese students who apply for the scholarship fall into two categories: those enrolled from the joint examination and those enrolled by 10 universities in Fujian and Guangdong provinces that have a separate right to recruit students from Taiwan.

The new policy has been widely applauded by undergraduates.

The average annual tuition for Taiwanese undergraduates studying on the mainland used to be about US$1,000 to 1,500, their mainland classmates had to pay the equivalent of US$367.

Ding said similar policies for students from Hong Kong and Macao are being considered.

Last year, she said, 1,777 Taiwanese students chose to further their studies on the mainland, a record high since mainland colleges began enrolling Taiwanese students in 1985.

The decision is seen as an implementation of the agreement reached in May by President Hu Jintao, former Kuomintang Party Chairman Lien Chan, and People First Party Chairman James Soong.

It was agreed that one of the ways of encouraging Taiwanese students to study in mainland colleges would be to equalize tuition fees.

Taiwanese university students and teachers attending a seminar in Xiamen warmly welcomed Beijing's decision. Chou Szu-tao, a student at Taiwan University, said the move will encourage more Taiwanese students to study on the mainland and help them know more about the mainland.

"It's really good news because lots of students have long been anticipating it," she said.

Charles Chiu, an assistant professor with Shih Hsin University, hailed the policy as a positive step towards improving cross-Straits relations.

"It demonstrates the mainland's sincerity in safeguarding the interests of the Taiwanese people," he said.

"It will benefit cross-Straits exchanges as a whole."

(China Daily August 25, 2005)