Skip to content

The English-taught MBBS in Chinese regulation: what the programme is and who may run it

Sources checked · Unofficial summary

The English-taught MBBS is a six-year clinical medicine undergraduate programme under Chinese Ministry of Education rules, and only schools on the Ministry's list may enrol students for it. This page follows those rules document by document, from the 2007 Interim Provisions to paragraph 2 of the notice on the 2023–2024 list. This register's section page describes the Ministry of Education list and the schools on it. This page covers Chinese rules only and does not describe what any home-country regulator requires.

The English in this article is this site's translation of the Chinese text.

The documents used on this page

Four Chinese documents are used here. The table gives each one with its number and date.

Document Number and date Part used here
Interim Provisions on Quality Control Standards for Undergraduate Medical Education in English for International Students (Ministry of Education) Annex 1 to 教外来〔2007〕39号, issued in 2007 Articles 1 to 5 and Article 30
Notice of the Ministry of Education issuing the Interim Provisions 教外来〔2007〕39号, issued in 2007 Background, paragraph 1 and paragraph 2
Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Education on the 2023–2024 list 教外厅函〔2023〕10号, dated 15 May 2023, published on the Ministry's site on 30 May 2023 Paragraphs 1 and 2, and the annex
Annex to 教外厅函〔2023〕10号 (the 2023–2024 list and enrolment plan) Annexed to 教外厅函〔2023〕10号 Its columns and the names of the universities

What Articles 1 to 5 of the 2007 Interim Provisions say

The Interim Provisions set quality control standards for the programme. Five articles set out its basic terms.

  • Article 1 gives the purpose. It is to regulate the management of English-taught undergraduate medical education for international students, raise educational quality, and promote the healthy development of international student education in China.
  • Article 2 sets the scope. The Provisions apply to the quality control of clinical medicine undergraduate education in English for international students at ordinary higher education institutions.
  • Article 3 sets the convergence with Chinese medical undergraduates. The teaching plan follows the training objectives and requirements for Chinese medical undergraduates, and the programme trains students in convergence with them so that they reach the basic requirements for Chinese medical graduates. On this premise, courses and course hours may be adjusted in appropriate amounts to match the medical requirements of the students' home countries and international requirements for returning home or serving in a third country after graduation.
  • Article 4 states the overall aim. It is to train graduates with solid basic medical knowledge, standardised clinical skills and good professional quality. It also lays a foundation for further study, medical research and health administration.
  • Article 5 sets the length, the certificate and the degree. The programme lasts six years. Students who complete the teaching plan and whose results are satisfactory are permitted to graduate after review, and the medical school issues the graduation certificate. Those who conform to the Degree Regulations of the People's Republic of China are conferred a bachelor's degree in medicine. The English copy may read "MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery)".

Why the Ministry acted in 2007

The 2007 notice gives its background. It says some schools had started English-taught clinical medicine programmes for international students in recent years. It then names three problems that appeared in running them:

  • some schools focused on the economic benefit of enrolling international students and expanded scale without limit;
  • some schools lacked faculty able to teach in English, and teaching quality was not high;
  • a few universities lowered their entry thresholds and admitted students on a high school graduation certificate alone, so student quality was not assured.

The notice says these problems affected the reputation of China's higher education. The Ministry then set up a national expert working group on medical education for international students. After investigation, the group drafted the Interim Provisions, which the notice issued for implementation.

Annual enrolment plans since 2007/2008

Paragraph 1 of the 2007 notice says that, from the 2007/2008 academic year, the Ministry manages enrolment plans for higher education institutions that basically meet the Interim Provisions for English-taught clinical medicine. The Ministry publishes each plan every year.

Paragraph 2 of the 2007 notice names 30 universities, with their enrolment plans, for the 2007/2008 academic year. It also says that schools not on that list, or without an enrolment plan, may not enrol English-taught clinical medicine undergraduates. This rule is tied to the 2007/2008 list. The 2023–2024 list is covered in its own section below.

Article 30: the national list and who may enrol

Article 30 of the Interim Provisions has two paragraphs.

  • In the first paragraph, the Ministry says it will entrust the national expert group on medical (Western medicine) education for international students to assess the teaching quality of schools. It will publish the list of schools that pass the assessment, together with their enrolment scale. The first paragraph also says that schools not on the list may not enrol students in the English-taught medical undergraduate programme.
  • In the second paragraph, schools that apply to enrol such students are assessed and argued over by the expert group. Schools that meet the conditions will be listed on the next year's list.

The 2023–2024 list and who may enrol

The notice is numbered 教外厅函〔2023〕10号. It is dated 15 May 2023 and was published on the Ministry's site on 30 May 2023. Its three numbered paragraphs and its annex cover the following points.

Paragraph 1 states the scale of the list. For the 2023–2024 academic year, the Ministry entrusted 44 universities to enrol students in English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine, with 3,048 places in total. The notice says that the allocation of places takes into account previous years' enrolment and each university's daily teaching and management of medical education for international students.

Paragraph 2 sets out who may and may not enrol.

  • Universities on the 2023–2024 list shall continue to enrol strictly in accordance with the spirit of the notice. In this notice, 《通知》 means the 2007 notice (教外来〔2007〕39号).
  • Universities not on the list may not enrol students in English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine.
  • Universities not on the list may not issue an English-version degree certificate for the English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine programme (MBBS). They may not issue an English-version degree certificate that contains the word "MBBS" either.
  • Universities not on the list may enrol students only in Chinese-taught undergraduate clinical medicine. The training standard for those students may not be lower than the standard for Chinese clinical medicine undergraduates.
  • Enrolling international students in disguised form through a "bilingual teaching" model is strictly prohibited.

The annex has three columns: the serial number, the institution, and the 2023–2024 enrolment plan. The annex lists the universities by their Chinese names. The English names used on this register are added by the register, not by the annex. The serial order in the annex and the size of each plan are not a ranking. The register has one page for each listed school in the register's school pages.

Currency of the list. This section relies on the list for the 2023–2024 academic year. When this site read the Ministry's policy index on 11 October 2026, the index showed no later edition of the annual list notice. The index dates this notice 2023-05-30, which is the date it was put on the site. Confirm the current year's status with the university and the Ministry.

Questions people ask

Does the Chinese rule set the programme at six years?

Yes. Article 5 of the Interim Provisions, which is annex 1 to 教外来〔2007〕39号 issued by the Ministry of Education in 2007, gives the programme length as six years.

Can a university that is not on the 2023–2024 list enrol English-taught MBBS students?

Paragraph 2 of the Ministry's notice 教外厅函〔2023〕10号, dated 15 May 2023, says that universities not on the list may not enrol students in English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine. The first paragraph of Article 30 of the Interim Provisions also says that schools not on the Ministry's list may not enrol students in this programme. Confirm the current year's status with the university and the Ministry.

Can a university that is not on the list issue an English-version degree certificate for MBBS?

Paragraph 2 of the notice 教外厅函〔2023〕10号 says that universities not on the list may not issue an English-version degree certificate for the English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine programme (MBBS). It also says they may not issue an English-version degree certificate that contains the word "MBBS".

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.

MBBS Register Desk