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The quality standard for English-taught MBBS in China: an overview chapter by chapter

Sources checked · Unofficial summary

This page maps the Interim Provisions on Quality Control Standards for Undergraduate Medical Education in English for International Students, which China's Ministry of Education issued in 2007 as document 教外来〔2007〕39号. The Provisions set requirements for Chinese schools that offer English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine to international students, and they are a Chinese rule, not a home-country regulator's rule. For the list of schools that the Ministry has published, see this register's section page.

The English on this page is this site's translation of the Chinese texts. Articles are cited by the numbers used in the Chinese text. This page does not describe Article 29.

General provisions (Articles 1–5)

Article 1 gives the purpose: to regulate the management of English-taught undergraduate medical education for international students, to raise its quality and to promote its healthy development. Article 2 limits the scope to quality control of English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine that ordinary higher education institutions offer to international students.

Article 3 says the training plan should follow the aims for Chinese medical undergraduates, and that the school may, in light of the students' home-country requirements and their later service abroad, increase or reduce some courses and adjust course hours. Article 4 sets the overall aim: graduates with a solid grounding in basic medical knowledge, standard clinical skills and good professional qualities, prepared for further study and for work in medical research or health administration.

Article 5 sets a six-year study period. It says that a student who completes the programme and passes is graduated by the school, and that a student who meets the Degree Regulations is awarded a Bachelor of Medicine. The English copy may read MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery).

Training standards (Articles 6–9)

Article 6 sets three principles. Teaching should rest on scientific principles. Training should stress basic principles, basic clinical skills and evidence-based analysis, not theory and clinical skills alone. Graduates should be able to carry out basic practice under senior doctors and, through further professional education, become independent practitioners.

Article 7 lists professional qualities, among them devotion to health work, respect for each person and their beliefs, lifelong learning, teamwork, and practice within the law. Article 8 lists the knowledge graduates should have, from basic Chinese and an overview of China to pharmacology, clinical epidemiology and Chinese traditional medicine. Article 9 lists abilities, including taking a full history, carrying out physical and mental examinations, managing common conditions and using evidence-based medicine.

Curriculum (Articles 10–14)

Article 10 requires the school to write a curriculum that fits its own conditions, within the Ministry's basic requirements for medical undergraduate education. Article 11 says the school should integrate course content, and that the curriculum includes compulsory and elective courses, with the ratio set according to actual conditions. Article 12 requires a dedicated function unit to manage the curriculum for international medical students.

Article 13 sets three parts. Part (1) covers Chinese culture and natural science courses, such as Chinese, medical Chinese, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and physical education, each passed by examination or assessment. Part (2) covers biomedical courses, behavioural, social and ethics courses, preventive medicine and clinical medicine, each passed by examination. Clinical attachments are completed in the school's affiliated or teaching hospitals. Part (3) covers the graduation internship. It lasts one academic year and is not less than 48 weeks, and it is arranged at a school teaching hospital or at a teaching hospital recognised by a foreign health department. Students must sit the school's graduation examination after the internship.

Article 14 makes Chinese a compulsory course throughout teaching, so that students can live and study in China and later treat patients.

Teaching, assessment and supervision (Articles 15–19)

Article 15 calls for student-centred teaching reform with self-directed learning, and it encourages guided, problem-based and interactive teaching. Article 16 requires assessment of students across the whole programme. Formative assessment includes tests, observation records and internship logbooks. Summative assessment includes course-end examinations and the comprehensive graduation examination. Article 16 says assessment should cover knowledge, skills, behaviour, attitude, problem analysis, clinical reasoning and interpersonal communication.

Article 17 says assessment should reinforce the training goals, and it says a comprehensive examination of practical ability should be held. It encourages student self-assessment. After each examination the school must analyse the results and feed them back to students, teachers and managers. Article 18 requires a mechanism for monitoring and evaluating the curriculum, a teaching quality supervision mechanism, and an English-teaching supervision group. Article 19 requires the teaching management department to have complete management rules, a dedicated organisation and suitable staff.

Admission (Articles 20–22)

Article 20 sets the applicant conditions: high school graduation or above, good grades, good health and a strong command of English. Applicants whose mother tongue is not English must provide proof of English learning through primary and secondary school, or proof of an English test. The applicant must also undertake to observe China's Constitution, laws and the school's rules.

Article 21 says the applicant should have a reliable economic guarantee and a guarantor for affairs in China, and must undertake to buy medical insurance during study. Article 21 names no sum for the economic guarantee.

Article 22 requires admission to follow the admission conditions strictly, with an eligibility review, examination or assessment, and approval procedures under the rules. The school's international student office sends the admission letter and the 外国留学人员来华签证申请表 (JW202 form) to the student.

Conditions for schools (Articles 23–28)

Article 23 sets two school conditions. The school must hold the power to confer master's degrees in the first-level disciplines of basic medicine and clinical medicine, and it must have a Grade III, Class A (三级甲等) affiliated hospital.

Article 24 requires teachers who can teach in English and teach each course in the plan in English. Foreign teachers' teaching hours may not exceed 20% of total teaching hours, and each foreign teacher may not take more than one core course. A foreign teacher in clinical practice must hold a licence or temporary licence to practise in China. Article 25 requires a review of teaching staff and training before teaching starts. Article 26 requires teaching facilities for lectures, tutorials and laboratory classes.

Article 27 requires a library with enough English reference materials and professional resources, staff to guide international students, and a computer search service. Article 28 requires clinical teaching bases that are affiliated or teaching hospitals of Grade III, Class A, and a ratio of beds to international undergraduates that meets the provisions for Chinese medical undergraduates.

Evaluation and the list (Articles 30–32)

Article 30 says the Ministry will entrust the national expert group for international students in Western medicine education to evaluate teaching quality. The Ministry publishes the list of schools that pass and their enrolment scale, and schools not on the list may not enrol students in this programme. Under the second paragraph of Article 30, schools that apply and meet the conditions after expert evaluation are included in the list for the following year.

Article 31 says dentistry and other specialties apply these Provisions by reference. Article 32 says the Provisions take effect on the date of issue.

The 2007 notice and the 2023–2024 list

The notice that issued the Provisions, 教外来〔2007〕39号, is dated 10 July 2007. The Ministry's 2023 list notice (教外厅函〔2023〕10号) is dated 15 May 2023 and was published on the Ministry's site on 30 May 2023. Its preamble says it follows the spirit of the 2007 notice, which it cites by number.

Paragraph 1 of the 2023 notice says the Ministry entrusted 44 universities to enrol students in this programme for the 2023–2024 academic year, with 3,048 places in total. It says the places were set with reference to past enrolment and to each school's day-to-day management of teaching for international medical students. The places are an enrolment plan figure and are not a ranking of schools.

Paragraph 3 asks the units concerned to check schools against the notice, and it names two other documents: the Management Measures for the Enrolment and Education of International Students (Order No. 42 of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Public Security) and the Quality Specification for Higher Education of International Students (trial). The same paragraph refers schools to a 2020 standard for clinical medicine programmes issued by an industry body. That standard is not among this page's sources. Paragraph 3 also says that schools that seriously breach the notice are restricted or stopped from enrolling in line with the law and regulations.

This is the list for the 2023–2024 academic year. The Ministry's policy index, which this site read on 11 October 2026, listed no later edition at that time. The index shows 30 May 2023 beside the title because that is the date the notice was put on the site. Confirm the current year's status with the university and the Ministry.

Questions people ask

How long is the English-taught MBBS programme under the 2007 Provisions?

Article 5 of the Interim Provisions sets the study period at six years. It also says a student who completes the programme requirements and passes is graduated by the school.

How long is the graduation internship?

Article 13(3) says the graduation internship lasts one academic year, and is not less than 48 weeks. It is arranged at a school teaching hospital, or at a teaching hospital that a foreign health department recognises.

Which schools may enrol students in this programme?

Article 30 says schools that are not on the list published by the Ministry may not enrol students in the programme. The Ministry publishes the list after the national expert group evaluates the schools' teaching quality.

Who decides the list for the 2023–2024 academic year?

Paragraph 1 of the 2023 list notice says the Ministry entrusted 44 universities to enrol students for that academic year. The notice was issued by the General Office of the Ministry of Education, and the policy index that this site read on 11 October 2026 listed no later edition.

Sources

Checked 11 October 2026.

This page is an unofficial summary. It is not legal, medical or professional-licensing advice, it is not published by the bodies named, and it promises no admission, examination or registration outcome. The official text and the regulator's own instructions prevail if they differ.

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