Clinical training on an English-taught MBBS: clerkship, teaching hospitals and the bed ratio

Sources checked 11 October 2026 · Unofficial summary

Clinical learning on English-taught undergraduate medicine in mainland China is set out in the Ministry of Education's interim provisions of 2007. Article 13(2) requires clerkship to be completed at the school's own affiliated or teaching hospitals, and Article 13(3) sets the graduation internship at not less than 48 weeks. These are rules the Chinese Ministry sets for schools, not rules of India's National Medical Commission, the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, Bangladesh's BMDC or the Nepal Medical Council, and this page does not say how any of those bodies applies them. Readers can compare the programme terms on this register's section page.

The standard is published in Chinese. The English on this page is this site's translation of the Chinese text.

The source and the list

The provisions are the Interim Provisions on Quality Control Standards for Undergraduate Medical Education in English for International Students (教外来〔2007〕39号), published by the Ministry of Education in 2007. Each rule below is cited by its article number in that text.

The Ministry's 2023–2024 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 first paragraph says that 44 universities were entrusted to enrol students for the 2023–2024 academic year. The Ministry's policy index listed no later edition when this site read it on 11 October 2026. Readers should confirm the current year's status with the university and the Ministry.

Where clerkship takes place

Article 13(2) lists the clinical courses that the programme typically includes. These are diagnostics, diagnostic imaging, internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, infectious diseases, neurology, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology, stomatology, dermatology and venereology, psychiatry and mental health, anaesthesiology, emergency medicine, rehabilitation medicine and traditional Chinese medicine.

The same paragraph lists the clinical abilities the course should cover. These are history taking, physical examination, auxiliary examination, diagnosis and differential diagnosis, making and carrying out treatment plans, clinical procedures, clinical thinking, emergency handling and communication skills.

Article 13(2) also says that clinical clerkship shall be completed in the affiliated hospitals or teaching hospitals of the school where the student is enrolled.

What the graduation internship requires

Article 13(3) says that the school shall organise and arrange the graduation internship carefully. The internship lasts one academic year, which is not less than 48 weeks. It takes place at the school's teaching hospitals or at teaching hospitals recognised by overseas health departments.

Article 13(3) also says that the school's internship content and requirements shall follow its teaching plan, and that the school must have full knowledge of the graduation internship. After the internship, international students must take the graduation examination of the school they attend.

Hospital conditions for the school (Articles 23 and 28)

Article 23 sets two conditions for a school. The school must have the authority to confer master's degrees in the first-level disciplines of basic medicine and clinical medicine, and it must also have a Grade III-A affiliated hospital.

Article 28 says that the school must have a clinical teaching base where international students carry out clinical teaching and internship. The base must be an affiliated hospital or a teaching hospital of Grade III-A.

Provision	What it requires
Article 13(2)	Clerkship shall be completed at the school's affiliated or teaching hospitals.
Article 13(3)	Graduation internship of one academic year, not less than 48 weeks, at a school teaching hospital or a teaching hospital recognised by an overseas health department.
Article 23	Master's degree authority in basic medicine and clinical medicine first-level disciplines, and a Grade III-A affiliated hospital.
Article 28	Clinical teaching base that is an affiliated or teaching hospital of Grade III-A.

The bed ratio (Article 28)

Article 28 says that the number of beds the hospital provides for clinical teaching and internship of undergraduate international students, measured against the number of international students, shall reach the relevant provisions for Chinese medical undergraduates.

Article 28 gives no bed-ratio figure. The Chinese undergraduate provision it refers to is not set out on this page, so the page does not state a figure.

Who may teach clinical practice (Article 24)

Article 24 says that foreign teachers may not teach more than 20% of the total teaching hours. Each foreign teacher may not take charge of more than one core course.

Article 24 also says that a foreign teacher of a clinical practice course shall hold a licence to practise medicine in China or a temporary licence. This licence condition applies to foreign teachers. Article 24 sets no licence condition for Chinese teachers of clinical courses.

The clinical abilities the standard lists (Article 9)

Article 9 lists the abilities that a graduate of the programme shall have. The items relevant to clinical training are these:

take a full, systematic and accurate medical history;
carry out systematic and standardised physical and mental examination and write medical records;
show relatively strong clinical reasoning and expression;
diagnose and manage common and frequently occurring diseases in internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, and paediatrics;
diagnose, give first aid to and manage general emergencies.

Questions people ask

Where must clerkship for an English-taught MBBS take place under the Chinese standard?

Article 13(2) of the Ministry of Education's 2007 interim provisions says that clinical clerkship shall be completed in the affiliated hospitals or teaching hospitals of the school where the student is enrolled.

How long is the graduation internship, and where does it take place?

Article 13(3) says the graduation internship lasts one academic year, which is not less than 48 weeks. It takes place at the school's teaching hospitals or at teaching hospitals recognised by overseas health departments.

Does the standard give a bed-ratio figure for international students?

No. Article 28 says the bed ratio shall reach the relevant provisions for Chinese medical undergraduates, and it gives no figure of its own.

What licence must a foreign teacher of a clinical course hold?

Article 24 says that a foreign teacher of a clinical practice course shall hold a licence to practise medicine in China or a temporary licence.

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.