The Development Condition And Analysis Of Traditional Chinese Medical Academic Education In Australia

Chinese Medicine has been introduced to Australia for more than 100 years.For centuries,the development of Chinese Medicine in Australia has gone through several stages such as budding period,oppressed period and development period.In 2000,Victoria in Australia formally adopted the Chinese Medicine Registration Act 2000 to make western Chinese Medicine legislation a reality.Since then,the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency(AHPRA)has announced the registration of Chinese practitioners of the country in 2012,and Australia became the first country in Western countries to recognize the legal status of Chinese Medicine in the form of legislation.By the end of June 2016,there were 4762 registered Chinese Medicine practitioners in Australia.The main force of Chinese Medicine practitioners in Australia were the young and middle-aged doctors aged between 30 and 65.In the late 1960s,Australia’s first acupuncture college was established in Sydney,New South Wales(which was later recognized by the Ministry of Education in New South Wales in 1993 and incorporated into the University of Sydney).In 1992,the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology(RMIT)officially recruited students studying Chinese Medicine,and Australia became the first country in Western countries to set up a Chinese Medicine undergraduate course in formal universities.All Chinese Medicine education in Australia was under the unified supervision of AHPRA after 2011,and AHPRA established the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia(CMBA)to manage Chinese Medicine affairs,including the registration of Chinese Medicine practitioners,the registration standards,and the management of industry association.At present,there are six educational institutions having opened higher education in Chinese Medicine and passed the AHPRA certification in Australia,including three comprehensive universities-University of Technology Sydney,Western Sydney University and RMIT University;three colleges of the Endeavour College of Natural Health,the Southern School of Natural Therapies,and the Sydney Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine.The University of Technology Sydney could grant a Bachelor of Health Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine,the program is a four-year full-time system with two teaching methods:classroom teaching and online teaching.Each course will have lectures and seminars on relevant knowledge.The professional students will be practicing at the UTS Chinese Herbal Medicine Clinic from the first year,and each student needs to complete 750 hours of clinical practice and treat 300 patients.Western Sydney University can be awarded the Bachelor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Master of Chinese Medicine,the undergraduate program is a four-year full-time system with a "Flipped Learning" approach,which requires students to complete 320 credits.Western Sydney University has a campus clinic(UniClinic),and students need to carry out more than 900 hours of clinical practice,including 250 hours in the campus clinic,250 hours in the real hospital outside the school,and another 400 hours students will go to China’s key hospital to practice.Meanwhile,Western Sydney University can be awarded the Master of Chinese Medicine.The post graduate program is a 1.5-year full-time system or a 3-year part-time system.Students will be divided into two directions in the second semester-clinical and scientific research.Students who choose clinical direction will go to Beijing University of Chinese Medicine to practice in the third semester;students who select the direction of scientific research will participate in Chinese medicine research projects,and finish the thesis.Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology offers three types of Chinese medicine related degrees,including Bachelor,Master and PhD.The undergraduate program is a 5-year full-time system with a Bachelor of Health Science/Bachelor of Applied Science(Chinese Medicine).Each course has a variety of teaching methods,including lectures,seminars,special reports,web reading,practice and experimental classes.Starting from the first school year,students are scheduled to work at the RMIT Health Sciences Clinic and Community Clinic,and in the second semester of the fifth year,students will go to designated hospitals of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine for 422 hours of clinical practice.In addition,the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology can grant three master’s degrees,Master of Applied Science(Chinese Herbal Medicine),Master of Applied Science(Acupuncture)and Master of Science(Complementary Medicine),and a PhD(Complementary Medicine).The Bachelor of Health Science(Acupuncture)of the Endeavour College of Natural Health is a 4-year full-time system,or an 8-year part-time system,with two teaching methods:face to face in school and online elective.The course has a total of 128 credits,and the ratio of theoretical and practical courses is 1:1,the ratio of Chinese medicine and Western medicine courses is 3:1,the total hours of clinical practice is 850 hours.The Bachelor of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Sydney Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine is a four-year system,with a total of 340 credits and a 9:2 ratio for Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine courses.Students are required to complete 900 hours of intensive clinical practice.Sydney Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine is the only institution who has set up Chinese classic literature as courses,such as Huang Di Nei Jing&Wen Bing Xue,Shang Han Za Bing Lun.The Bachelor of Health Science-Chinese Medicine of Southern School of Natural Therapies is a four-year full-time system,with a total 480 credits and a 7:2 ratio for Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine courses.There is no offer on online teaching.Students are required to complete a 40-hour study mission each week and complete a total of 585 hours of clinical practice at the Well-being Center from the third year.Australian higher education in Chinese medicine is provided by local colleges and prestigious comprehensive universities,it has a relatively complete degree education system,and it covers three levels of education,undergraduate,master and doctor;it has clear teaching objectives,the comprehensive universities focus on cultivating students’ comprehensive ability,the colleges focus on training students in clinical practice of Chinese medicine skills and professional ethics;it has a reasonable distribution of educational institutions,six institutions can grant a bachelor’s degree in Chinese medicine or acupuncture,including two comprehensive universities can grant a master’s degree,one can grant a doctorate;it attaches great importance to imparting Chinese traditional culture knowledge,students are required to understand the history of Chinese and Chinese medicine,to learn Chinese phonetic and Chinese characters related to Chinese medicine.In summary,Australian Higher Education of Chinese Medicine is accredited by the Australian Health Practitioners Authority(AHPRA).Comprehensive universities focus on the cultivation of students’ overall ability to adapt to the multi-directional development of students;colleges pay more attention to the cultivation of the clinical practice and professional ethics for students to prepare for work.These three comprehensive universities are not only famous in the local,but also have a certain influence in the international arena.Among them,the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology is the largest university with centuries-old history in Australia;The University of Western Sydney was founded in 1989 and it is the first Federated University in Australia;The University of Technology Sydney Ranked 201-250 in 2016-2017 Thames World University Rankings.Traditional Chinese medicine is the traditional project and has characteristic advantage in foreign exchange and cooperation of our country,and it also plays an important role in the Belt and Road strategic decision,international exchange and cooperation in Chinese medicine which is facing an unprecedented opportunity.Education level is one of the important indicators to reflect the development of a discipline or social needs,at present,there are few studies on the developmental condition of Chinese medicine higher education in Australia.The research perspective is not comprehensive enough,and the content is not systematic enough,for not only many of the data needs to be updated,but also a good many network information is even wrong,most of the research is only about the developmental condition,and rarely in-depth analysis.This study has conducted an investigation the development condition of the academic education of Chinese Medicine in Australia,summarized its scale of development,and analyzed its development characteristics.Not only further expanded the research areas and scope of the overseas Chinese Medicine education,but also have important reference value and significance for the future high level Chinese Medicine education international cooperation and exchanges.