The number of Taiwan students studying at universities on the mainland has kept increasing during the past five years.

Statistics from the Ministry of Education showed that in 2011 a total of 7,346 Taiwan students were studying at universities and research institutes on the mainland, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Jinan University in Guangdong province, as well as Xiamen University and Huaqiao University in Fujian province.

The number leaped to 10,870 in 2015, the ministry said in a document to China Daily, adding that the ministry had been working to attract more Taiwan students to the mainland with some preferential policies, such as charging equal tuition from Taiwan students and mainland students and setting up a scholarship exclusively for Taiwan students to support their study.

The ministry, starting from 2010, approved students to use their test scores achieved in Taiwan to apply for universities on the mainland. It also took Taiwan students into the basic medical insurance system for mainland urban residents in 2013.

"We believe these measures would help Taiwan students finish their study in the mainland smoothly and promote the friendship between youth from both sides of the Taiwan Straits," the ministry said.