An aerial view of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

BEIJING – Total 38,200 students from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan were pursuing higher education on the mainland in 2021, an increase of 51 percent compared with 2012, according to the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE).

Over the past decade, mainland universities have enrolled 79,000 students from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, the MOE said at a press conference on Tuesday.

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Exchanges and cooperation have expanded between higher education institutions in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and the mainland.

About 3,000 programs have facilitated communication between university teachers and students from Hong Kong, Macao, and the mainland.

More than 1,000 universities across the Taiwan Strait have engaged in 1,300 exchange programs, and about 60,000 teachers and students from Taiwan have visited the mainland in the past 10 years.

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The mainland has also tied up cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao in running schools and joint education programs and developing major laboratories, the ministry said.