Mainland universities are increasingly becoming the choice for overseas senior-school students.

During this year's college entrance examinations, about 55 per cent of senior-school graduates in Macao applied to universities on the Chinese mainland. A total of 1,214 Macao students sat the exam for mainland schools.

In Taiwan, 825 graduates have signed up for the mainland college entrance examination, double last year's number .

Renowned institutions including Peking University and Tsinghua University have been the top choices for students in Taiwan.

Besides Taiwan, Macao and Hong Kong, sources with the Ministry of Education said that more and more overseas Chinese graduates living abroad have also applied to mainland universities.

This year, Jinan University in coastal Guangdong Province alone has received 3,000 applicants from overseas ethnic Chinese students.

Any qualified overseas students can apply for a scholarship to study on the Chinese mainland, the source said.

A total of 325 students from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao took the college entrance exam Friday in Xiamen, East China's Fujian Province, 140 more than last year. Among them, 105 are from Taiwan.

A total of 28 students from Jinmen in Taiwan went to Xiamen on Tuesday to take the special entrance exam for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan students.

Xiamen University is their first choice. Some parents of the students say that the study environment of mainland universities is good, the tuition is relatively low and that mainland universities offer more choices to the Jinmen students.

Some Jinmen officials predicted that more and more Jinmen students will attend Xiamen University. Last year, 14 Jinmen students took the exam and five of them passed.

After one year of pre-study, the five students will become freshmen at Xiamen University. New academic years begin in September .

In Fujian province, the exam is only held in Xiamen. Many Taiwan students choose universities in Fujian, such as Xiamen University, Jimei University in Xiamen and Quanzhou Huaqiao University.

( China Daily June 22, 2002)