Bad news for medical students! China restricts teaching of MBBS in English amid big surge of students from India

China attracts foreign students, specially from India and other Asian countries, due to its affordable courses compared to institutions in the US, the UK and Australia.

Of the 23,000 Indian students, over 21,000 have enrolled to study MBBS, which is an all-time high.

China’s education ministry has authorised only 45 local medical colleges from over 200 to enrol foreign students to teach MBBS in English, a move that could affect a large number of Indian students. Record number of Indian students have enrolled into Chinese universities to study medicine. China attracts foreign students, specially from India and other Asian countries, due to its affordable courses compared to institutions in the US, the UK and Australia.

At present over 23,000 Indian students are studying different courses in Chinese universities, as against over 28,000 from Pakistan. In all, nearly 5 lakh foreign students are presently studying in Chinese universities. Of the 23,000 Indian students, over 21,000 have enrolled to study MBBS, which is an all-time high. Considering the growing interest among Indian students about Chinese medical courses, the Indian Embassy here on Monday said the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE) has approved 45 medical colleges in the country to teach MBBS course in English to foreign students.

The Chinese MOE has also clarified that universities which are not in the list of the 45 universities should not admit foreign students for the MBBS programme to be taught in English, a press release issued by the Indian Embassy said. “It has been clearly mentioned by the Chinese MOE that teaching MBBS course under a bilingual (English/Chinese) model is strictly forbidden. The MOE has also informed that the list of universities will be regularly reviewed and updated in due course,” it said.

“The Chinese MOE has also stressed in its notification that universities which are not in this list of 45 universities can only recruit foreign students for medicine course in Chinese language,” it said. “The embassy is, however, not aware of any comprehensive list of universities that may have been authorised to offer medicine courses in Chinese for foreign students. We will continue to make efforts with the Chinese MOE to obtain such a list, if it exists,” it said. The Chinese MOE has not issued any other specific lists of universities relevant for the teaching of medicine.

Accordingly, the more than 200 universities which cannot teach MBBS course to foreign students was removed from the website of the Indian Embassy to prevent any confusion, the press release said. With the new rule coming into effect, a large number of Indian students who had earlier started their MBBS course are now learning Chinese language to complete their course. Though Chinese universities rushed to enrol foreign medical students, specially India, they have struggled to hire quality professors to teach in English.

                    

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