Comparison of different categories

4.8.1 Entry requirements, degree and licensing exam

Basically all of the here included universities have an entrance exam for their students, but the kind of exam as well as the level of difficulty may differ a lot.

After finishing study students can get a bachelor (B) or master (M) degree, which depends on the program they are enrolled in (see table 23). CMU in Taiwan provides different programs according to the educational background of their students. High school students can only enrol in the seven or eight year bachelor degree program, while students who already have a bachelor degree are allowed to enter the Post-Baccalaureate five year bachelor degree program. All of the other here investigated universities do not differentiate between the educational background of their students. However Pusan University and Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, which only offer a master degree program just allow students, who already have a bachelor degree to enrol.

After finishing study students in most of the here investigated countries have to take a licensing exam in order to work as a CM physician. Only Australia as well as a few states in the USA do not have a licensing exam, therefore students after receiving their university degree can start working as CM physicians.

4.8.2 Chinese Medicine Foundation Studies

Comparing the curricula in regard of Chinese Medicine Foundation Studies, differences and similarities according to the courses and didactic hours were found.

Nearly all of the universities provide the following courses: Fundamentals of CM (CM Foundation Studies), CM Materia Medica, CM Prescriptiology and Introducation in Classical Chinese Medcine Literature with more or less theoretical and practical lectures. Beijing, Nanjing and Guangzhou University of TCM only have these four courses on Chinese Medicine Foundation Studies in their curriculum, while most of the other universities also provide a course in History of Chinese Medicine. Chinese University, HK University and China Medical University additionally have a course on Health Promotion in Chinese Medicine.

Furthermore, some specialities among the universities were found. China Medical University provides courses like Physiology of CM, Pathology of CM and Traditional Chinese Enviromental Medicine. These three courses are rooted in Classical Chinese Texts and have the aim to make Chinese Medicine theory more practical, easier to understand and let the students develop a CM thinking process.

Kyung Hee University in Korea is the university with the most didactic hours of CM Foundation Studies. This is due to the practical lab lectures, which are included in their curriculum. Kyung Hee University also has lectures on Oriental Medicine Physiology and Pathology including theory and lab hours. These courses differ from the courses of the CMU. They focus on using different new developed machines in order to understand special phenomena.

Chang Gung University, Kyung Hee University, Pusan University and Chinese University in Hong Kong also have a special course on Meridianology. The didactic hours for the Chinese Medicine Foundation Studies can be seen in table 23.

4.8.3 Chinese Medicine Classical Texts

Most of the universities provide lectures on five different standard classical Chinese Medicine text books: “Huangdi`s Internal Classic” (Huang Di Nei Jing

《黃帝內經》), “Treatise on Cold Damage Diseases” (Shang Han Lun《傷寒 論》) , “Synopsis of Prescriptions of the Golden Chamber” (Jin Gui Yao Lue《金 匱要略》), “Warm Disease Theory” (Wen Bing Xue《溫病學》) and “Theory of Different Chinese Medicine Schools” (Zhong Yi Ge Jia Xue Shuo《中醫各家學 說》).The didactic hours differ between 45 hours at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine and 378 at Chang Gung University. RMIT University and Pacific College of Oriental Medicine only have a small amount of classical text hours, which might due to language barrier.

At China Medical University only two Classical textbooks are taught as a whole, because the content of the other books are taught in other courses (see above).

Shanghai University of TCM has a small amount of used Chinese Medicine classical texts, too. At Shanghai University of TCM the students can choose between different classical text books. Among the five books mentioned above students have to select at least two. The school of Oriental Medicine at Pusan

University only teaches one classical text book. The didactic hours for the classical Chinese Medicine texts can be seen in table 23.

4.8.4 Chinese Medicine Clinical Studies

Most of the universities teach about more or less seven different standard CM Clinical courses like Diagnosis of Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture, Chinese Internal Medicine, Surgery of Chinese Medicine, Traumatology of Chinese Medicine, Gynecology & Obstetrics of Chinese Medicine, Pediatrics of Chinese Medicine, Ophthalmology & Otolaryngology of Chinese Medicine and provide different short term clerkships. The didactic hours differ between 558 hours at China Medical University and 1485 hours of Pacific College of Oriental Medicine.

China Medical University does not provide short term clerkships during the first three years. Pacific College of Oriental Medicine on the other hand has many different short term clerkships. The clinical courses at RMIT University are not well defined, like Clinical Chinese Medicine 1, 2, 3 with a main focus on acupuncture. Nanjing University of TCM provides special courses on Chinese Internal Medicine in the five year curriculum.

The didactic hours for the Chinese Medicine Clinical Studies can be seen in table 23.

4.8.5 Chinese Medicine Internship

The duration of CM internship differs a lot. The shortest internships are at RMIT University (13 weeks) and Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (14weeks).

Some of the universities in China have 52 weeks internships. The CM Internships in Taiwan, Korea and USA are pure CM internships which means that Chinese Medicine physicians in those countries are only allowed to use Chinese Medicine and hence cannot prescribe Western medicine for example.

In China CM physicians do also prescribe Western drugs. Therefore the physicians use a mixture of Chinese and Western Medicine. Universities in Hong Kong as well as RMIT University sent their students to China for internships because of a shortage of own facilities. The didactic hours for the CM internship can be seen in table 23.

4.8.6 Western Medicine

The highest amount of Western Medicine can be found in the eight year curriculum of China Medical University and Chang Gung University. There is a high amount of more than 4000 didactic hours of Western Medicine plus a 48 weeks internship. Both universities provide a regular Chinese- Western Medicine double degree program.

Depending on the curriculum the didactic hours of Western Medicine differ a lot. Chinese University e.g. has only 518 hours of Western Medicine. Moreover, most of the universities only provide basic Western Medicine courses in their curriculum.

China Medical University also provides a 32 weeks clerkship in Western Medicine in the fourth year of the five and in the sixth year of the seven year curriculum. Both curricula also provide many different clinical Western Medicine courses. In comparison to other curricula the Western Medicine courses are much more differentiated. The didactic hours for Western Medicine can be seen in table 23.

4.8.7 Research

Research itself and courses which have to do with research were included in this category. Only a few of the universities have basic courses on scientific research like Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Study Design in their CM curriculum.

Except of the seven year curriculum of Shanghai and Nanjing University of TCM, the other universities from mainland China do not have courses on research.

However the courses provided in Shanghai and Nanjing are master degree courses and therefore not basic medical research courses. The universities from PR China provide a Cultivation program in the last year of the seven year curriculum. This Cultivation program is a mixture of clinical practise and research.

The students have to finish a thesis by the end of the year. Pusan University provides a master degree program, too. Therefore, students also have to do research and write a degree thesis. The Pacific College of Oriental Medicine provides a Master of Science degree, but research and thesis are not needed for graduation. The didactic hours for research courses are listed in table 23.

4.8.8 Non Medical Courses

There is also a different amount of non medical lectures among the universieties. Some universities have no non medical courses in their curriculum while others have an amount of more than 1000 hours. The content of non medical lectures differs among the universities. The universities from mainland China e.g. have many courses with ideological content. The didactic hours for non medical courses can be seen in table 23.

Table 23: Comparison of study duration, degree (bachelor: B; master: M) and didactic hours of different categories