HONG KONG, June 28 (Xinhua) -- 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.

Under the document, 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.

Exchange activities include visiting mainland and Hong Kong higher education institutions to pursue studies and research, as well as participation in short-term exchange and visit programs.

The central government will set up a dedicated fund to support teachers and students in Hong Kong to participate in exchange programs on the mainland.

Vice Minister of Education Hao Ping, Secretary for Education of Hong Kong Michael Suen and representatives of the higher education sectors of the mainland and Hong Kong witnessed the signing of the document.

Hao disclosed at the ceremony that the central government had decided to invite another 2,000 students and teachers of Hong Kong 's higher education institutes to study or participate in scientific research on the mainland each year, starting from 2013. This was based on an exchange program now running at the University of Hong Kong, which subsidizes the study and exchange of 1,000 students and academic staff on the mainland.

Meanwhile, the central government will subsidize 7,000 students and teachers of Hong Kong's higher education institutes to join in summer exchange programs in the mainland each year, he said.

Suen expressed his belief that the implementation of the document will help push relations between the mainland and Hong Kong to a new level of development.

"We trust the higher education institutions in both places will work in concert in taking forward cooperation initiatives expeditiously, so that their mutual collaboration and exchange will scale new heights," he added.

Among the mainland higher education institutions involved are prestigious Peking University, Tsinghua University and Fudan University while their Hong Kong counterparts include University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Polytechnic University, University of Science and Technology and Baptist University.