The International Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Cooperation Experince And Discussion

Liu Zili  Li Ming     Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

KunMing city,YunNan Province,P.R.China  650011.

Combined with the traditional Chinese medicine rush throughout the world, as the earliest university in Yunnan which has carried out specialized overseas education, Yunnan university of Traditional Chinese Medicine has made great efforts to extend the influence of traditional Chinese medicine in Europe and Asia, and set up diploma education and non-diploma educationof traditional Chinese medicine which directly meet the people of different professions, ages, cultures and backgrounds.

As one of the supervisors and participants of these activities, we’d like to communicate with you all on the achievements and experience of the foreign cooperation.

1.   Europe

1.1. Diploma Education :

In November, 1990, our university signed a ten-year cooperation agreement with The National Physician Association of catalona, Spain, and the cooperation project was called "Catalonian --Yunnan " College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In the Third Session of China-Spain Mixed Commission of Scientific and Technical Cooperation, Catalonian --Yunnan college of Traditional Chinese Medicine was formally established as the cooperation project between the two nations, and both of the two countries confirmed that this college would become a professional and formal Chinese medicine school. The five majors set up in this college are traditional Chinese medicine, traditional Chinese pharmacy, science of acupuncture, massage therapy and Qigong of health care.

In July, 1995, Catalonian --Yunnan college of Traditional Chinese Medicine incorporated with Spain Institution of Chinese Traditional Medicine, and its original board of directors was renamed as "European Traditional Chinese Medicine Foundation ". Catalonian --Yunnan college of Traditional Chinese Medicine is in charge of the two-year teaching work of traditional Chinese medicine in that school. And our university has made detailed teaching program for it, compiling text books for both acupuncture and massage therapy majors, and translating them into Spanish. By 2002, our university has sent out twelve teachers who can spoke Spanish to give instruction in Madrid, Barcelona and ānbōsītǎ etc. They have not only taught there, but also instructed clinical works. Thousands of patients had been made a diagnosis and given treatment there. From the school"s opening on Nov. 8th, 1994 to 2000, Catalonian --Yunnan college of Traditional Chinese Medicine had cultivated hundreds of talented people who had got normal academic qualifications majored in traditional Chinese medicine in Spain and Europe.

1.2.           Non-diploma Education

In order to improve the European practitioners’ skills, Yunnan university of Traditional Chinese Medicine has sent eleven professors to Spain successively to hold European short term training courses (24 terms) since Nov. 2003, teaching advanced practical skills of traditional Chinese medicine, which has brought up 700 people. And the college has sent five experts to France to hold Chinese traditional health care and health preserving training course, which has brought up over 500 people.

1.3.        Knowledge and Realization

As one of the professors in Yunnan university of Traditional Chinese Medicine who were firstly sent to Spain to hold training courses, we have got an overview about the cooperation of European traditional chinese medicine.

1.3.1.       The education of traditional Chinese medicine has gradually entered into main medical regions in Europe and America.

a)、Sixty percent of American medical colleges have set up alternative medicine courses concerning traditional Chinese medicine, such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Cornell.. In 1996, American National Institutes of Health established post doctorate of alternative medicine and continuing education program of traditional Chinese medicine.

b)、Britain"s Middle -Sex University has cooperated with Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to start undergraduate education jointly, which is a five-year program. The courses they studied are basically the same with those of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

c)、Australia: There are five regular universities now offering traditional Chinese medicine education: Melbourne Institute of Technology, Sydney University of Science and Technology, Victoria University of Science and Technology, University of Sydney and University of Western Sydney. Among them, the profession of traditional Chinese medicine in Melbourne University is a five-year program, granting a bachelor"s degree. It"s six-year for Sydney University of Science and Technology, and a bachelor"s degree of Chinese herbal medicine and health science will be granted. In addition, there are master and doctor degree programs in another two directions.

d)、Austria Li Shizhen University of Traditional Chinese Medicine: It offers three-year master"s degree programs.

1.3.2.       Course Design

we found during our teaching in Europe that the licensed herb doctors of different countries were in different levels because lots of private colleges of traditional Chinese medicine were established in Europe. By reason of the equipments and other limited conditions of Western private schools, combined with strict distinction of measures between Chinese and Western licensed doctors, as well as legal restrictions, most of the trainees, except that who has a background of western medicine, have a weaker foundation in Western medicine, than the Chinese graduate of same profession  or major, and fall short of the clinical model which integrates TCM and western medicine. Take acupuncture doctor as an example, if he/she doesn"t have a solid foundation in acu-point topography, medical negligence even fatalities will more likely to happen during their practices. Thinking in both Chinese medicine and Western medicine ways is necessary for the practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. In this way, they can take the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine legitimately, make a right diagnose and further more avoid medical negligence or accident. For example, in the therapy of tumor, it"s necessary to combine traditional Chinese and Western medicine. Take another example of  the extrauterine pregnancy, someone would mistakenly diagnose it as the indication of acupuncture, which will causes medical lawsuit. China"s higher educational system of traditional Chinese medicine has established in 1956, which has a history of over 50 years. Curriculum mainly compose of 3 parts: a、traditional Chinese medicine; b、modern medical basic courses c、other relevant common curriculums.. The fifty-year facts has proved that this kind of human resources training model is basically correct and successful.. This model has been borrowed by the traditional Chinese medicine departments of Britain"s Middle -Sex University, Australia"s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong University and Nanyang Technological University. The ratio of TCM courses to Modern medicine courses is 7:3, revealing that it"s necessary for traditional medicine experts to be trained by regular institutions of higher education.

2. Asia：

2.1. Indonesia: On March 21, 2007,  Yunnan TCM university and Indonesian Health Healthy Institute altogether constructs the " Yunnan east Javan Traditional Chinese medicine college ". Will jointly sponsor the Chinese medicine school record education project official start in Indonesia, will set up the Chinese medicine, the acupuncture massages two specialized undergraduate course school record education

2.2.Thailand

2.2.1. Chinese Language Teaching

The higher institutions of traditional Chinese medicine uphold Chinese traditional essences of language, culture and medicine. Its special features decide that its teachers and students all should have a high-level knowledge of Chinese language and culture. Therefore, those institutions have the strength and potential to teach Chinese as a foreign language. Our university has carried out seven activities along with Thailand Prince of Songkla University on the theme of jointly Chinese language teaching. In that context, 474 Thailand students came to our university to learn Chinese Language .

2.2.2. Medical treatment cooperation :

2.2.2.1.Dr.Panya General Hospital program in Bangkok:

2.3._. 

From April, 2000 to August, 2003, our university had sent four teacher- doctors  to Dr. PanYa General Hospital of Bangkok, Thailand to prepare to build traditional Chinese acupuncture department. The writer participated in its establishment and operation in about three years. That department had run successfully, and been withdrawn from Thailand in 2003 owning to the policies of its health ministry.

2.2.2.2. Yunnan Chinese medicine university – Qing Lai Rajabhat University north acupuncture and moxibustion training center project:

This project started in November, 2006, YunNan TCM university sends out the expert to go to this center to carry on teaching, traning North of Thailand  local traditional medicine practioners, the modern medicine GP and the amateur ,for 3 months to a year located  in  junior middle high-level acupuncture and moxibustion practical skill training course., the student later period go to the Yunnan Chinese medicine university affiliated hospital carry out clinical practice, this project has brought into the Thai health Ministry national acupuncture and moxibustion training system.

2.2..3.Collaboration with Ubon Rathathani Rajabhat University: The union project will cultvate  the high-level talents which understand both the TCM and traditional Thai medicine .

2.2.4..Experience and Realization

On July 1st, 2000, Thailand government declared that traditional Chinese medicine had been legislated as a legal profession. Owning to Thai people"s culture and their blood ties with Chinese people, there are a great number of ethnic Chinese in Thailand. (1/4). Chinese medicine has a good basis of the broad masses of the people in Thailand. Up to now, 217 people have passed the exam held by Thailand Health ministry, and were granted practical license as Chinese medicine practitioners. But the problems are as follows:

1) Traditional Chinese medicine doesn"t have a high status: Compared with TCM doctors in China, those doctors there are inferior.. Western medicine ranks first, and traditional Thai medicine (Thai nationality doctor) is the second, while traditional Chinese medicine is in the third position.

2) The practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine are of different levels: Up to now, Mahidol University and Huachiew Chalermprakiet University have set up five-year Chinese medicine bachelor degree program, and the professionals trained by regular universities will be the hope of Chinese medicine in Thailand.

3) Traditional Chinese medicine has been excluded by Western medicine: The reason, firstly, is that private Chinese medicine practitioners have no complete knowledge system of Chinese and Western medicines. On the other hand, the contest of patient leads to this result.

4) Traditional Chinese medicine falls short of clinical base: Except for huaqiao TCM hospitals, there has no enough influential traditional Chinese medicine teaching hospital.

3. Diploma- Education and Non-diploma Education of oversea Students in YunNan TCM university.

3.1 Diploma Education

Up to now, Yunnan university of Traditional Chinese Medicine has enrolled 120 students majored in traditional Chinese medicine who respectively come from 14 countries, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Among them, there are 13 postgraduate students, 90undergraduates, 13 former undergraduates and 9 former master-degree students.

3.2 Non-diploma Education.

Our university has accepted altogether 780 traditional Chinese medicine major students, practitioners and amateurs came from more than ten countries and regions to receive various short-term and long-term non-curricula advanced studies, clinical practices and special trainings.

3.3 Realization and Assumption

3.3.1 The Necessity to Set Up Preparatory Classes of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine is based on Chinese culture and knowledge, and its specialty decides that international students must have a good Chinese capacity. As for western students, it"s comparatively difficult for them to understand traditional Chinese medicine owning to the difference of cultural background. If they throw away the cultural foundation for quick success and instant benefit, and learn it only from the technological aspect, the consequence will range from the weakening of technology to the departure of academic system. The preparatory classes of traditional Chinese medicine should enroll the students who have a HSK 4-5 Chinese language level, and should be one year in duration. The meaning of it lies in:

1) Before going to study undergraduate courses, a solid foundation should be laid, and one of Chinese cultural courses--Chinese cultural history of philosophy should be learned.

2) To set up the access to traditional Chinese medicine: Relevant courses include: Chinese medical history, basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine.

3) To make a good preparation for ancient Chinese medical language: Ancient Chinese Language and Culture should be learned.

3.3.2 To establish priorities based on credit system: According to the situation of different countries, particular stress should be laid on some subjects, such as acupuncture,  traditional Chinese medicine.General practioner of TCM major etc.

3.3.3 To adopt tutorial system and Specialist system in practice: During the fifth year’s internship, the trainees should have been appointed with tutor and comparatively oriented major, such as department of dermatology, tumor department and so on. . And special subject and disease should be focused on, so as to provide specialized training on certain diseases.

3.3.4 To improve construction of clinical base: Although the prior education is carried out abroad, it often falls short of clinical practice. In that context, the construction of clinical base should be strengthened, and much attention should be paid to specialized subject and disease, so as to reflect the feature of traditional Chinese medicine.

-----Above Script come from “The 2­^ndInternational Conference Multidisciplinary Research and Practice on Human Development ” 2-3 July 2008 Organized by Ubon Ratchathani Rajabhat University,Thailand