Can a university not on the MOE list teach medicine to international students in Chinese?

Yes. A university that is not on China's Ministry of Education 2023–2024 list may only enrol international students in Chinese-taught undergraduate clinical medicine, and its training standard may not be lower than the standard for China's own undergraduate clinical medicine students. The same university may not enrol international students in English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine and may not issue an English-version degree certificate for undergraduate clinical medicine (English-taught) or one containing "MBBS".

What the 2023–2024 list notice says

The list is the one for the 2023–2024 academic year (教外厅函〔2023〕10号, Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Education on the 2023–2024 list of higher education institutions enrolling international students in English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine and their enrolment plan). The notice is dated 15 May 2023 and was published on the Ministry's site on 30 May 2023. For that year the Ministry entrusted 44 universities with enrolling international students in English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine, for a total of 3,048 places (paragraph 1 of the notice). The Ministry's policy index listed no later edition when this site read it on 11 October 2026; confirm the current year's status with the university and the Ministry. See the full list on the recognised universities page.

The English on this page is this site's translation of the Chinese text. Paragraph 2 of the notice draws the line between universities on the list and those off it:

• A university on the 2023–2024 list shall continue to enrol strictly in line with the spirit of the Notice (教外来〔2007〕39号).
• A school not on the list may not enrol international students in English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine.
• A school not on the list may not issue an English-version degree certificate for undergraduate clinical medicine (English-taught) (MBBS) or an English-version degree certificate containing "MBBS".
• A school not on the list may only enrol international students in Chinese-taught undergraduate clinical medicine, and its training standard may not be lower than the training standard for China's undergraduate clinical medicine students.
• The notice strictly forbids enrolling international students by means of a "bilingual teaching" model in disguise.

What the 2007 notice said

The 2007 notice (教外来〔2007〕39号, Notice of the Ministry of Education issuing the Interim Provisions on Quality Control Standards for Undergraduate Medical Education in English for International Students), dated 10 July 2007, stated the same point about unlisted schools in its own words in paragraph 4. The published list of schools is a dynamic list; whether a school meets the requirements of the Interim Provisions is assessed by an expert panel and announced when the annual enrolment plan is issued. A school not on the list may enrol international students in medicine taught in Chinese, but its training standard must be the same as that for China's own students.

Chinese language requirement for Chinese-taught programmes

The 2018 Quality Norms for Higher Education of International Students (Trial) (annex to 教外〔2018〕50号 of 3 September 2018) set a general language standard for Chinese-taught programmes. These are general norms for all international-student higher education, not medical rules.

For disciplines and programmes that use Chinese as the language of professional teaching, international students shall be able to use Chinese smoothly to complete the study and research tasks of the programme and shall have the ability to use Chinese in work related to the profession. By graduation, Chinese ability shall reach level 5 of the International Chinese Proficiency Standards (《国际汉语能力标准》).

In the admission standards for international students, the Chinese ability requirement for Chinese-taught disciplines and programmes shall be at least level 4 of the International Chinese Proficiency Standards. The norms name no test, score or HSK level.

Sources

• Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Education on the 2023–2024 list of higher education institutions enrolling international students in English-taught undergraduate clinical medicine and their enrolment plan (教外厅函〔2023〕10号) — Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (General Office)
• Notice of the Ministry of Education issuing the Interim Provisions on Quality Control Standards for Undergraduate Medical Education in English for International Students (教外来〔2007〕39号) — Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
• Quality Norms for Higher Education of International Students (Trial) (annex to 教外〔2018〕50号) — Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
• Ministry of Education open-government index of policy documents on study in China — Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China

Checked 11 October 2026. This page is an unofficial summary, is not legal or professional-licensing advice, is not published by the bodies named, promises no admission, examination or registration outcome, and the official text and the regulator's own instructions prevail if they differ.