TAIPEI - TAIWAN universities will begin taking students from China next year for the first time since the two sides cut contact decades ago, an official said on Tuesday.

Government agencies are studying the details on ways to allow students from China as part of new President Ma Ying-jeou's policy of increasing exchanges with political rival Beijing, which sees the self-ruled island as its own.

'It's a segment of greater communication across the Taiwan Strait,' said Deputy Education Minister Lu Mu-lin.

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists (KMT) fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.

Taiwan bars students from China for security reasons, but some of its 146 universities are struggling for lack of local enrolment. China, however, allows students from Taiwan.

Taiwan must decide how many students it wants from China each year and change laws on visa terms before the new policy can take effect, Mr Lu said.

Students who seek degrees in Taiwan, where Mandarin Chinese is the official language, would avoid the rigorous English proficiency exams required of popular Western institutions.

Chinese students, however, are likely to be picky about which Taiwan schools they pick, Mr Lu said.

National Taiwan University, the most famous on the island, was hoping to recruit China's best students, said campus spokesman Liao Hsien-hao.

'We will take the best students, which will raise the reputation of the university,' he said. -- REUTERS