More Taiwanese Students Flock to Mainland to Further Studies

Xinhua, 25 January 2002

HONG KONG, January 25 (Xinhua)—The number of students from Taiwan applying for postgraduate courses offered by mainland universities has jumped by 250 percent this year compared with 2001, said the Beijing-Hong Kong Academic Exchange Center in Hong Kong Friday.

Kwok Ming Wa, vice-president of the center told Xinhua that a total of 723 Taiwanese students have applied for courses in the mainland this year, compared with 296 in 2001.

The center, a body entrusted by China's Education Ministry to process applicants from Hong Kong and Taiwan, also revealed that a total of 60 mainland universities have been applied to by the students from the two places, up from 40 of last year.

The trend of Hong Kong and Taiwanese students wanting to study on the mainland is expected to continue and grow more robustly in the years to come, Kwok said.

He said that given the stagnant economic situation in Taiwan in recent years and China's access into the World Trade Organization leading to more employment opportunities in the mainland, many students from Taiwan have decided to do their academic studies or develop their career at mainland universities.

The most popular postgraduate courses Hong Kong and Taiwanese students choose to enroll in include Master's in Business Administration, Chinese Law, Accounting, Chinese Medicine, Philosophy and Literature.

Some Taiwanese students also favor technical courses, such as engineering and chemistry.

The number of Hong Kong students applying for the courses has jumped by 12 percent to 145 this year compared with 130 in 2001, Kwok said.