Students from HK, Macao, Taiwan don't need gaokao to apply

Students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have more opportunities to be admitted to top universities on the mainland, as more of the schools have started to enroll high school seniors without the national college entrance examination, or gaokao.

This year, students from Hong Kong can apply to 112 universities on the mainland without taking the gaokao first, under a special plan launched in 2012 that allows mainland universities to recruit Hong Kong applicants based on their performance in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education test, the Ministry of Education said.

Since 2012, the number of mainland institutions covered under the special plan nearly doubled, from 63 to 112, with the Central Academy of Music, Central Academy of Fine Arts and Central Academy of Drama among the 10 most recent additions, the ministry said.