Hong Kong students will be exempted from taking the Joint Entrance Examination for 70 Chinese Mainland higher education institutions in 2013, the country's Ministry of Education announced on Thursday.

Hong Kong students can now be admitted to mainland higher education institutions based on their results in the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination. Seven more institutions are participating in the scheme next year.

The 70 institutions are in 12 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. They include comprehensive universities, normal universities, and medical universities. The newly added institutions include two foreign language universities.

Candidates sitting for the HKDSE and the HKALE next year are eligible for enrollment in the scheme. They can apply online from May 6 to June 6.

The Ministry of Education and the Hong Kong government's Education Bureau will jointly hold the 2012 Mainland Higher Education Expo on November 3 and 4, to educate students and parents on the scheme.