Comparison of Chinese Medicine Education in Different Countries

• Main Authors: Peter Karl Mayer, 馬培德
• Other Authors: 蘇奕彰
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/63209764124580038344

碩士 === 中國醫藥大學 === 中國醫學研究所碩士班 === 97 === As Chinese Medicine (CM) is getting more and more popular all over the world, many universities and schools teaching CM developed their own curricula and educational system. However, until now there is no worldwide accepted guideline for the education of CM. In order to evaluate the current situation of CM education worldwide, about 20 curricula of top institutions with a regular CM degree program were compared in relation to duration of study, courses, didactic hours, entry examination and degree. It was also evaluated whether a licensing exam is needed to work as a CM physician. The courses were classified into different categories like CM Foundation Studies, CM Classical Texts, CM Clinical Studies, Western Medicine (WM), other courses and Internship. The didactic hours for all of the categories were calculated and compared. The duration of study differed from four to eight years before graduating with a bachelor or master degree. Most of the universities offer a 5-year undergraduate CM program. The China Medical University as well as Chang Gung University in Taiwan are the only universities worldwide offering an 8-year Chinese-western medicine double degree. Besides a 5-year bachelor degree, universities in PR China also offer a 7-year master degree CM curriculum. Within the selected universities, the amount of CM didactic hours differed from around 1200 to 3000 hours. The amount of WM hours varied between 500 to 4800 hours. Great differences could be found within the universities regarding the internship duration. Compared with the 13-week CM internship at RMIT University in Australia and a 52-week internship at Nanjing University of TCM, China Medical University is the only university, which, beside a 48-week WM internship in the double degree program, also offers a 32-week WM clerkship in the five and seven year CM curriculum. The differences and similarities shown in this research can provide a basic platform for the discussion of CM education, recognition and improvement worldwide.