Medical Education Program for International Student

The MBBS (Medical Bachelor & Bachelor of Surgery) program in Zhejiang University is a medical education program specifically designed for international students who wish to pursue a medical bachelor degree in China. The program was formally established and began to recruit students in September 2006. Since then, four batches of total 330 students have been recruited. These students are from more than 20 countries including India, Pakistan, Mauritius, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Tanzania, New Zealand and USA.

To ensure the quality of education, in May 2006, Chinese Ministry of Education held a Conference on the China Higher Medical education (Western Medicine) for International Students in Tianjin, to discuss the quality control standards. A guideline, ‘The Provisional Regulations on Quality Control Standards of Undergraduate Medical Education for International Students (English Media)’ was finally formed and published soon after. After reviewing the qualification, first 30 medical schools including Zhejiang University School of Medicine were accredited to enroll international students in medical education program with English media. 

The composition of M.B.B.S. program is fully under the guideline of ‘Provisional Regulations on Quality Control Standards of Undergraduate Medical Education for International Students (English Media)’ and ‘Global Minimum Essential Requirements in Medical Education’. The overall goal is to develop extensive medical knowledge and laid a solid foundation for their further studies in any medical branch for medical graduates. Special requirements of other countries where most students originally come from are also taken into account.

The M.B.B.S. curriculum is organized in a disciplinary setting based on a school’s existing undergraduate medical education program and composed of three stages, pre-med, pre-clinic and clinic stage. It takes six years(starts from 2014, previously it was five and half years) to complete, One year for pre-med, two years for pre-clinic and three for year clinic. Core courses for pre-med include collge math, Chemistry, physics and biology;  pre-clinic stage, medical biochemistry, human anatomy, embryology, physiology, pathogen biology, pathology, pharmacology, pathophysiology, diagnostics, etc. While in clinic stage, students will spend 1.5-year to study the clinic courses including internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, neurology, psychiatry, infectious diseases, etc., and one year in clinical practice (senior clerkship). Students will join a clinical team and participate in all clinic work and activities under the supervision of doctors. During the first 2 years a Chinese language cause is also included. Other aspects such as physician-patient relationship, ethics, law and informatics are emphasized throughout the whole curriculum. In addition, students are also encouraged to participate in scientific research and other Extra-curricular activities. M.B.B.S. degree will be awarded to the students who finish all courses, pass the exams and meet all other requirements.