What TCM professionals are needed, and should higher education TCM programs involve international cooperation? University presidents and representatives from 15 countries and regions including Thailand, Italy and France gathered at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to discuss these issues.

TCM's global spread depends on education. By the end of 2025, the university had more than 3,000 international students from 73 countries and regions. In 2003, the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine launched its first overseas undergraduate TCM program with a Thai university, which had trained over 1,300 students as of 2025.

Teachers from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine are sent to Thailand to teach our students. In this TCM program, undergraduates spend the first four years in Thailand studying basic theory and the final two years in China doing clinical internships. Graduates receive dual degrees. We have also opened Thailand's largest TCM clinic in our school, said URAIPAN JANVANICHYANONT, President of Huachiew Chalermprakiet University.

As more people in other countries learn of TCM, a university president from Italy expressed the desire to cooperate with China to launch TCM-related programs.

We just started some programs for administrative staff in traditional Chinese medicine, with some courses on qi gong, tai chi, and they really appreciated it. I think there are many Italians who are interested in TCM, but they don't know much about it. So we need to focus and to deepen the knowledge of TCM, said TIZIANA LIPPIELLO, President of Ca'Foscari University of Venice.

As early as 1975, Shanghai University of TCM launched its first international acupuncture training course, followed by two three-month sessions each year. Nearly 10,000 acupuncturists worldwide have since completed the course. As the university celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, representatives at the event jointly released the Shanghai Consensus on Global TCM Education. It's designed to establish standards for TCM talent training and building a TCM education system with global influence.

HAN CHOUPING, Dean of the International Education College, Shanghai University of TCM said.I think launching this consensus is very meaningful. First, we must ensure quality — mainly clinical quality so our students can serve local communities when they return home, which we value most. We also offer acupuncture training, short-term programs, and TCM training for overseas Western medicine practitioners, all of which must also ensure quality. Another aspect is about giving TCM courses overseas. Since 2012, we have had an English-taught team able to deliver education overseas, both online and offline. Besides, we need TCM terminology standards, which our university has been developing and translating. I think it's time for us to take the lead in building this consensus.

According to the consensus, the university will also advance the international alignment of TCM curriculum frameworks, core competency standards, clinical training specifications and safety standards, thereby facilitating professional practices among TCM practitioners.

本文发布于魔都眼，2026年10月30日，记者：唐晓帆。