Beijing University of Chinese Medicine

Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM) is a national key university specializing in Traditional Chinese Medicine education. It was jointly established by the Ministry of Education, the National Health Commission, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the Beijing Municipal Government. Now, it is directly under the management of the Ministry of Education of China. Founded in 1956, formerly known as Beijing Chinese Medical College, it was the first Chinese Medicine college approved by the State Council. In 1960, the central government designated it as a national key university, and in 1993, renamed it, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.

In 1996, the National 211 Project listed it as a key university. In 2000, it merged with Beijing College of Acupuncture, Orthopedics and Traumatology, forming a new Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM). In 2011, CPC and the State Council made a major decision to list it under the 985 Project, the object of which was to build first-class universities of international caliber. In 2017, the Double World-Class Project cited BUCM’s three disciplines (Chinese Medicine, Integration of Chinese and Western Medicine and Chinese Materia Medica). In 2018, the Ministry of Education appointed BUCM chairman of the steering committee of specialty teaching in Chinese Medicine and Integration of Chinese and Western Medicine in higher education institutions.

The university now has three campuses – the Hepingjie Campus, the Wangjing Campus and the Liangxiang Campus.

The motto of BUCM is: Study diligently, learn from others’ strengths, uphold noble virtues, and benefit society by practicing medicine.” Possessing distinctive characteristics and strong capacity, BUCM has become an education center for the cultivation of high-level innovative TCM professionals. We are simultaneously: a) a model for the reform of TCM education; b) a research base for innovation in TCM knowledge and technology; c) a healthcare base for the prevention and management of critical conditions and rare cases; d) a humanity base for the dissemination of Chinese traditional culture; and e) an international exchange base for the introduction of TCM to the world. It has risen to become a world-renowned TCM university integrating teaching, scientific research, medical treatment, and Chinese medicine culture. BUCM has made great contributions to universal health undertakings, civil society, and social advancement.

The University is one of the first Chinese Medicine institutions in China to set up a Doctoral Degree Program and a Center for Post-Doctoral studies. It has established three Post-Doctoral training programs: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese Materia Medica and Integration of Chinese and Western Medicine. It also offers forty-two Doctoral Degree programs in specialized disciplines and forty-six Masters’ Degree programs.

It has several teaching schools, including the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the School of Chinese Materia Medica, the School of Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Tuina; the International School; the Department of Chinese Medicine of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao; the School of Life Sciences, the School of Management, the School of Nursing, the School of Chinese Culture Studies, the School of Continuing Education, the School of Distance Education, the School of Humanities; and other teaching units.

BUCM has four school-level research institutions, namely, Beijing Research Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, National Institute of TCM Constitution and Preventive Medicine, National Institute of Chinese Medicine Development and Strategy, and the Institute of Encephalopathy, Beijing, China. It also has eight affiliated hospitals for clinical teaching, sixteen clinical practice bases, the National Center for the International Communication of Chinese Medicine, the International Promotion of Chinese Language – Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture Base (Beijing), and a Museum. The university currently has three national teaching teams, with a National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center and a National Outside-school Practice and Education Base for college Students.

There are fifty scientific research bases at or above the provincial and ministerial levels, and more than seven hundred and seventy projects, such as the 973 Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Support Plan, the Major Special Projects and the key projects of the Natural Fund. The research results of Physical Identification with Chinese Medicine have been incorporated into the National Basic Public Health Service Code, which forms the Chinese Medicine professional standard and the national standard for the diagnosis and treatment of major diseases.

BUCM is also the sponsor of national-level academic journals: Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Journal, Modern TCM Clinic, TCM Education, and Traditional Chinese Medical Sciences (English Edition), all playing important roles in academic exchange of Chinese Medicine. Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Journal has been listed in 100 Outstanding Chinese Academic Journals five times in a row.

From its inception, the school was the first higher institution of Chinese Medicine in New China to accept foreign students to study Chinese Medicine. So far, it has trained more than 20,000 Chinese Medicine professionals from 94 countries and regions.

Importantly, it has established cooperative relationships with 118 well-known universities and research institutions from 31 countries and regions. In 1996, in cooperation with Middlesex University, UK, BUCM became the first university in China that could independently confer a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine in a university abroad. It takes the lead in providing undergraduate education in Traditional Chinese Medicine in the world's top 50 universities, and in cooperation with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, it set up a "Chinese Medicine - Biology" double bachelor’s degree education.

In 2012, the Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute was established in Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan, to integrate Chinese Medicine course into the modern medical education system. In cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, Spain, BUCM initiated the first EU-recognized Master's degree program in Chinese Medicine. The school also established the first Chinese medicine bachelor's degree program completely taught in English, and the first Chinese medicine masters and doctoral degree programs designed for students who are already biomedical doctors to learn Chinese medicine.

The school continues to explore and innovate its international development, through pioneering the BUCM Program at selected overseas TCM Centers. These Centers combine medical, educational, scientific research and cultural communication, and provide an effective method for the overseas development of Chinese Medicine. It has set up TCM Centers in Germany, Australia, Russia, and the United States.

The Koetzting Hospital of Chinese Medicine, established in Germany in 1991, has set a precedent for Chinese universities to run Chinese Medicine specialty hospitals overseas and become a model for Chinese Medicine to the world.

The Russian TCM Center has successfully obtained the necessary qualification as a medical institution in the Russian Federation, becoming the first Chinese Medicine specialty hospital in Russia to be included in the national medical insurance system.

The Australian TCM Centre provides Chinese Medicine education for Western doctors.

The TCM Center of the United States aims at the characteristics of Chinese medicine and the frontiers of medicine, and has successfully held many high-end academic conferences around cancer, epilepsy, pediatric diseases, reproductive diseases, etc. In 2019, it continued to promote the integration and development of traditional and modern medicine in partnership with the National Children's Hospital of the United States.

In summary, overseas centers have become an important platform for international medical and health services, education, teaching and academic exchanges in Chinese medicine.