Thirty-four higher education institutions of Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland, 17 for each, signed a letter of intent on Thursday to further strengthen exchange and cooperation in exchange of visits, personnel training and scientific research.

According to the letter of intent, higher education institutions in Hong Kong, with powers to award bachelor degree or above, will further expand and deepen cooperation with their mainland counterparts.

Students of under-graduate and post-graduate programs at master and Ph.D levels as well as faculty of these institutions are all covered by future exchange programs, with priority given to Hong Kong students.

Among the mainland higher education institutions are prestigious Peking University, Tsinghua University and Fudan University. Hong Kong's counterparts included University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Polytechnic University, University of Science and Technology and Baptist University.

(Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2012)