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The graduation internship in an English-taught MBBS: one academic year, at least 48 weeks

Sources checked · Unofficial summary

Article 13(3) of the Ministry of Education's 2007 standard for English-taught undergraduate medical education for international students sets the length of the graduation internship at one academic year, not less than 48 weeks. It says the internship is arranged at the school's teaching hospitals or at teaching hospitals recognised by a foreign health authority. This is a rule for Chinese medical schools. It is not a rule of any student's home country. The page on admission is the register's own section page and does not restate this standard.

The Chinese text is rendered in English here by this site. The English is this site's translation, not an official English version.

What Article 13(3) says, sentence by sentence

Article 13 sets out three parts of the curriculum. Part (3) concerns the graduation internship. Its four sentences are as follows.

  1. The school shall carefully organise and reasonably arrange the graduation internship.
  2. The graduation internship lasts one academic year (not less than 48 weeks), and it is arranged at the school's teaching hospitals or at teaching hospitals recognised by a foreign health authority.
  3. The school shall formulate the internship content and requirements strictly according to the teaching plan, and it must keep track of the internship.
  4. After the graduation internship of international students ends, they must sit the graduation examination of the school where they study.

Article 13(3) does not place the internship within the six-year course. It states the internship length and the places where it is arranged, and nothing more about its timing.

Length of the course (Article 5)

Article 5 sets the length of the English-taught undergraduate medical programme at six years. It also says that a student who completes the teaching plan and passes is approved for graduation. Article 5 and Article 13(3) are separate provisions. Article 5 gives the course length, and Article 13(3) gives the internship length.

Where clinical teaching takes place (Article 28)

Article 28 concerns the clinical teaching base, which is the setting for clinical teaching and internship for international students. It has two sentences.

  • The clinical teaching base must be an affiliated hospital or a teaching hospital (a Grade III Class A hospital).
  • The ratio between the beds the hospital provides for undergraduate international students' clinical teaching and internship and the number of international students shall reach the relevant provisions for Chinese medical undergraduates.

Article 28 sets no fixed bed count per student. It refers the ratio to the provisions for Chinese medical undergraduates, which are not part of this page.

Who this rule is for

The rule above binds the school under the Ministry's standard. The Ministry's text does not set the requirements that a student's home regulator places on an internship. Those are set in a different document. For how home-country licensing is covered on this site, see the licensing section.

Questions people ask

How long is the graduation internship under Article 13(3)?

Article 13(3) says the graduation internship lasts one academic year and is not less than 48 weeks. The provision applies to the internship of the English-taught undergraduate medical programme that the standard covers.

Where may the graduation internship be arranged?

Article 13(3) says it is arranged at the school's teaching hospitals, or at teaching hospitals recognised by a foreign health authority. The provision does not name any particular hospital.

When does the graduation examination take place?

Article 13(3) says that after the graduation internship of international students ends, they must sit the graduation examination of the school where they study. The provision places the examination after the internship.

Does Article 28 set a number of beds for each student?

No. Article 28 sets no fixed number of beds per student. It says the bed-to-student ratio shall reach the relevant provisions for Chinese medical undergraduates.

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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