China Medical Education College Survey 2013-2018 - National Survey Findings on Undergraduate Medical Education Reform

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk

National survey findings summarize how Chinese medical schools evolved in undergraduate medical education between 2013 and 2018 under recent reform policies. The National Center for Health Professions Education Development carried out the China Medical Education College Survey with about 64% participation, producing a representative sample. Results show improvements in program types, teaching and assessment, resources, accreditation participation, and incoming student quality, alongside concerns such as mixed program types, regional resource gaps, traditional methods dominance, quality inconsistencies, and more graduates pursuing non-healthcare employment.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Purpose

Design/Approach/Methods

Findings

Originality/Value

Background and Policy Context

China’s medical education reform goals

Accreditation and the EDETP program

Evaluation focus for policy effectiveness

Launch of the inaugural CMECS

China Medical Education College Survey, 2013–2018 You You (由由), Nali Jia (贾娜丽), Ana Xie (谢阿娜), and Weimin Wang (王维民) Peking University ECNU Review of Education 2023, Vol. 6(2) 294–317 © The Author(s) 2022 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/20965311221143797](DOI: 10.1177/20965311221143797)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/20965311221143797)[journals.sagepub.com/home/roe](journals.sagepub.com/home/roe) Abstract Purpose: China recently proposed a series of important policies intended to reform and improve the quality of medical education on the national level. This paper presents the ﬁndings of a national survey of China’s medical schools conducted to review the development of undergraduate medical education over a ﬁve-year period (2013–2018). Design/Approach/Methods: The National Center for Health Professions Education Development implemented the China Medical Education College Survey. Approximately 64% of the targeted medical schools participated in the survey, constituting a representative sample of higher education institutions offering educational programs in clinical medicine in China. Findings: Following new policy orientations, medical schools showed positive developments in terms of the types of medical education programs offered, teaching and assessment methods, medical education resources, participation in accreditation, and quality of incoming students. However, the survey also revealed several worrying trends, including the coexistence of various types of education programs, signiﬁcant regional differences in educational resources, dominance of traditional teaching and assessment methods, inconsistencies in quality, and an increase in graduates seeking employment in professions outside healthcare. Originality/Value: Findings of the ﬁrst national survey of China’s medical schools show that thereis still a long way to go to ensure high quality and efﬁcient medical education on a national level. Corresponding author: Weimin Wang, Institute of Medical Education & National Center for Health Professions Education, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China. [Email: wwm@bjmu.edu.cn](Email: wwm@bjmu.edu.cn) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as speciﬁed on the SAGE and Open Access page ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). Keywords China, college survey, development trends, higher education, undergraduate clinical medicine Date received: 14 October 2021; revised: 20 June 2022; accepted: 13 July 2022 The health indicators of China’s population have improved continuously since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, with the main indicators now above the averages of high-income countries (Information Ofﬁce of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, 2019) . Medical education has played a key role in this achievement. With the reform and development of the economy and society’s healthcare needs, medical education in China adopted continuous learning and referenced international experiences. After completing this process of imitation, exploration, and self-construction, China established its own development model for medical education—one comprising its own system and teaching methods and containing unique Chinese characteristics. In the 21st century, Chinese higher education began striving toward the stage of popularization. However, popularizing higher medical education conﬂicts with its inherently elite nature. Many problems arising from this contradiction have

FAQs

What was the purpose of the China Medical Education College Survey 2013–2018?

The survey reviewed development of China’s undergraduate medical education over five years (2013–2018) to assess how national policies intended to reform and improve medical education were reflected in medical schools’ practices.

How was the survey conducted and how many schools participated?

The National Center for Health Professions Education Development implemented the survey. Approximately 64% of targeted medical schools participated, forming a representative sample of higher education institutions offering clinical medicine programs.

What improvements did medical schools show after new policy orientations?

Medical schools showed positive developments in medical education program types, teaching and assessment methods, education resources, participation in accreditation, and the quality of incoming students.

What worrying trends did the survey report?

The survey identified several concerns, including coexistence of different program types, significant regional differences in educational resources, continued dominance of traditional teaching and assessment, inconsistencies in quality, and an increase in graduates seeking employment outside healthcare professions.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by hdkawk