Updated on: Wednesday, January 25, 2012
China is emerging as a major global hub for medical education as it boasts of more than 630 higher learning institutions from the stream with 1.76 million students, including thousands from India.
The medical institutes included over 280 colleges and over 350 secondary schools, the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOH) said.
There are 1.76 million students studying at medical institutes nationwide at present. China has been emerging as a major centre for medical education attracting students from abroad in recent years.
According to official figures over 8,000 Indian students enrolled to study Medicine in China in 2010. This year the numbers were expected to go up by few hundreds.
More and more students from India are joining medical colleges in China, even though the medical degrees are not directly recognised in India.
They have to write a separate test back home set by Medical Council of India to get qualified. The reason according to Indian officials was that it costs lot cheaper to study in China compared to private medical colleges in India and the facilities were also lot better.
Considering the growing popularity in India, a number of Chinese medical schools were recruiting Indian and Nepalese medical professors to teach in their institutions.
The Chinese Health Ministry said it had set up a multilevel medical education that offers diploma courses ranging from bachelor's to postdoctoral studies as well as part-time classes for medical workers, thanks to decades-long reforms in the field.
The government has made efforts to standardise medical education by publishing national standards on the education of clinical medicine and issuing certificates to qualified teachers in accordance with international rules.
The government is now further deepening reforms in medical education, in an effort to create a sound environment for the development of top-level medical colleges in the country, according to the MOH.
In addition, domestic medical schools are increasing cooperation and exchanges with their overseas counterparts.