Some 100 high school graduates from north China's Tianjin Municipality, along with 2,000 students from 13 other mainland provinces, cities and autonomous regions  will become the first group of mainland students receiving  university education in four Macao-based universities in this  autumn semester.

   The four forerunner universities are the University of Macao,  Macao Polytechnic Institute, Macao Institute for Tourism Studies  and Macao University of Science and Technology.

   Zhou Yu, a Tianjin-based student newly admitted by the Finance  Department of the University of Macao, considered the upcoming  education tour to the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) as one of the most important opportunities in his life.

   Zhou said, "The high quality university education in Macao SAR  will greatly help me to develop various capabilities catering to  future career demands."

   Sources said that the annual tuition of these Macao  universities ranges from 20,000 to 40,000 yuan (some 2,450 to 4, 900 U.S. dollars). All the families of the admitted students said  that money will not be a problem.
   "After Macao returned to the motherland, economic and social  environment there is quite satisfactory. I am happy to send my son there to study," said the mother of Yang Yuan, a student admitted  by the Macao University of Science and Technology.