A growing number of high school students from Taiwan are applying to study at Shanghai universities, a senior academic said yesterday.

“A lot of Taiwan students choose mainland universities because of the preferential admissions policies and lower entry thresholds for the best courses,” said Xiang Yanxun, director of admissions services at East China University of Science and Technology.

At Tongji University, for example, the 56 applications received this year from Taiwan students represent a 100 percent increase from 2013. Similarly, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics said it had received 40 applications from Taiwan this year, far more than it did 12 months ago.