Promoting Qihuang’s “going overseas” experts and scholars discuss international cooperation in higher education in traditional Chinese medicine

China News Service, Shanghai, October 29 (Reporter Chen Jing) "In Europe, people have a strong interest in traditional Chinese medicine, and the same goes for Chinese culture." Li Jiya, president of the University of Venice in Italy, said bluntly in an interview with reporters on the 28th, "But people have a relatively shallow understanding of Chinese culture and medicine, and we need more courses."

On the same day, Li Jiya attended the High-Level Opening-up of Traditional Chinese Medicine Education Principal Forum (hereinafter referred to as the Forum) in Shanghai and said: "We need your help to set up traditional Chinese medicine courses to promote traditional Chinese medicine. In Venice, we launched a project to offer Qigong and Tai Chi courses for administrative staff. Everyone is very interested in this course and hope to continue learning." She said: "We can jointly think about some plans to combine medicine and culture, both for students and professionals."

Principals and school representatives from 32 institutions from 15 countries and regions gathered at the forum to have in-depth exchanges on topics such as international cooperation in higher education in traditional Chinese medicine and the cultivation of international perspectives for high-level medical talents.

"The 'going out' of traditional Chinese medicine is not only the dissemination of treatment technology, but also a dialogue between health philosophy and civilizational wisdom." Ji Guang, president of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, pointed out that in the context of increasingly prominent health needs such as the aging of the global population and chronic diseases, it is of great significance to promote the innovative development of traditional medicine, deepen the opening up of education, and cooperate with institutions. "In the future, we are willing to use Shanghai as a hub and education as a link to promote traditional Chinese medicine to the world in a deeper level, and transform ancient medical wisdom into health resources shared globally." Ji Guang said.

It is reported that by the end of 2025, the number of international students enrolled at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine will reach 3,168, coming from 73 countries and regions; it has formed an academic education system covering undergraduate, postgraduate and English-taught programs, highlighting the characteristics of "early clinical, multi-clinical". The school promotes the "going out" of traditional Chinese medicine education through cooperation projects with the Overseas Chinese Chongsheng University in Thailand and the University of Malta, as well as "Western Learning" and international acupuncture training.

U Lai Pan, president of the Overseas Chinese Chongsheng University in Thailand, said in an interview that traditional Chinese medicine has a long history and many Thai people believe in traditional Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine not only treats diseases, but also helps the body recover, maintain health and prevent diseases. It is reported that in September 2003, the undergraduate program of Chinese Medicine jointly launched by Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Overseas Chinese Chongsheng University in Thailand was approved by the Ministry of Education of Thailand. In 2004, Thailand's Overseas Chinese Chongsheng University recruited the first batch of 50 students majoring in traditional Chinese medicine, marking the first undergraduate education in traditional Chinese medicine in Thailand. By 2025, the above-mentioned undergraduate majors have trained more than 1,300 people, becoming the backbone of Thailand's traditional Chinese medicine industry.

At the forum, participating representatives jointly released the "Shanghai Consensus on High-level Opening of Traditional Chinese Medicine Education" (hereinafter referred to as the "Consensus"). The consensus proposed to establish talent training standards that are both in line with international standards and deeply rooted in traditional Chinese medicine thinking, and to improve a closed-loop quality assurance system covering curriculum, clinical, scientific research and evaluation; to expand the scale of high-level academic students, graduate students, visiting scholars and "Western Learning" projects to create a Chinese medicine education brand with international influence; to promote Activate the international docking of TCM curriculum framework, core competency standards, clinical training specifications and traditional medicine safety standards to promote cross-border mobility and practice of talents; build a multi-lingual course cloud platform, virtual simulation training system, TCM knowledge map and intelligent teaching assistants to build a new "ubiquitously accessible" TCM education ecology, etc.