High school graduates in Macao have shown growing enthusiasm for further studies in China's inland-based universities and colleges.

Inland colleges attracted more than two-thirds of Macao's high school leavers in entrance examinations each year since Macao returned to the motherland at the end of 1999, according to the Macao Educational Association.

This year, a total of 2,270 local school leavers applied for entrance examinations of the interior institutions of higher learning and 1,622 of them were enrolled, both hitting records in the history.

Inland colleges started to resume enrollment of students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in 1984, but the move was initiated only by two Guangdong-based universities -- Jinan University and Overseas Chinese University.

More renowned universities followed in as of 1989. A total of 16 prestigious higher-learning institutions such as Beijing University and Qinghua University, for example, accepted 204 excellent students from Macao without examinations this year.

Universities in the neighboring Guangdong Province are attractive for Macao students mostly due to similar dialects and cuisine habits as well as short journeys between the two places.

In general, inland universities charge lower fees but boast more diversified disciplines and stronger competitive edge globally compared to a dozen local institutions.

Macao students prefer majors that cater to both demand of the new era and fast-growing sectors in the Special Administrative Region, such as business management, education, medical science, foreign languages, information technology and electronics, sources said.

(People's Daily September 23, 2002)