Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine

Founded in 1954, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine is a national Double First-Class university, a Category A institution under the Jiangsu High-Level University Peak Plan, and jointly supported by the Ministry of Education, Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government and National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It is one of China’s earliest traditional Chinese medicine higher education institutions. It trained the first group of teachers, compiled the first set of textbooks and developed the first teaching syllabus for higher traditional Chinese medicine education in the People’s Republic of China, pioneering the establishment and dissemination of its educational model. It is known as “the cradle of higher traditional Chinese medicine education.”

It has Xianlin, Hanzhongmen and Taizhou campuses. Its teaching institutions include 11 schools; the First, Second, Third and Fourth Clinical Medical Schools; Gulou Clinical Medical School; and Wuxi Clinical Medical School. It has 15 affiliated hospitals and 3 affiliated pharmaceutical enterprises. It has 23008 students, including 14775 undergraduates, 6782 master’s students, 972 doctoral students and 464 international students, and 2124 faculty and staff.

Centered on traditional Chinese medicine and pharmacy, it integrates Chinese and Western medicine and coordinates development across supporting disciplines. It upholds the philosophy of “Mastering Chinese and Western Knowledge, Utmost Expertise and Sincerity,” preserves the essence of tradition and pursues innovation while maintaining its foundations. It has 1 national Double First-Class discipline, 4 Jiangsu university advantageous disciplines, 8 provincial key disciplines under the 14th Five-Year Plan, and 13 National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine high-level key disciplines. It was among the first institutions nationally authorized to award doctoral and master’s degrees. It has 5 first-level doctoral degree authorization fields, 1 professional doctoral degree authorization field, 12 first-level master’s degree authorization fields, 9 professional master’s degree authorization fields, and 4 postdoctoral research stations. It achieved excellent results in the Ministry of Education’s fifth discipline assessment, with core disciplines including Traditional Chinese Medicine and Traditional Chinese Pharmacy among the national leaders. Eight disciplines rank in the ESI global top 1%: Pharmacology and Toxicology, Clinical Medicine, Chemistry, Biology and Biochemistry, Neuroscience and Behavior, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Agricultural Sciences, and Immunology. Pharmacology and Toxicology ranks in the ESI top 5‱. Its overall ESI subject ranking, ShanghaiRanking Academic Ranking of World Universities position, Nature Index ranking, U.S. News Best Global Universities ranking and other world university rankings are among the highest for Chinese traditional Chinese medicine institutions.

It implements a strategy of strengthening the university through talent and has a strong faculty. Its renowned Chinese and international experts and scholars include Chinese Academy of Engineering members, National Masters of Traditional Chinese Medicine, national leading and young talents, and chief scientists of major projects under national major science and technology programs, the 973 Program, major National Natural Science Foundation projects, major National Social Science Fund projects, Science and Technology Innovation 2030 Major Projects, and the National Key Research and Development Program. They also include members of the State Council Academic Degrees Committee’s discipline appraisal groups, nationally distinguished teachers, National Renowned Chinese Medicine Physicians, Qihuang and Young Qihuang Scholars, and national Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Talent Project recipients. It has developed a first-class faculty mainly composed of young and middle-aged teachers with strong development potential and innovative vitality.

It continually deepens education and teaching reform and focuses on developing first-class talent with both integrity and ability. It admits students to 25 undergraduate programs across medicine, management, science and engineering. It has 10 national first-class undergraduate program development sites, 19 provincial first-class program development sites, and 11 Jiangsu flagship programs. With renowned institutions and enterprises including the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences and Kanion Pharmaceutical, it jointly trains outstanding doctors through top innovative talent pathways in integrated undergraduate-doctoral Traditional Chinese Medicine, 5+3 integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine, and integrated undergraduate-doctoral Clinical Medicine Integrating Chinese and Western Medicine. It also jointly trains outstanding scientists and engineers through integrated undergraduate-doctoral top innovative talent programs in Traditional Chinese Pharmacy, including the Tu Youyou Class and New School of Traditional Chinese Pharmacy Class.

It focuses on major national strategic needs and uses scientific and technological innovation to serve economic and social development. Its research platforms include the National Key Laboratory of Process Control and Intelligent Manufacturing Technology for Traditional Chinese Pharmaceuticals, a National Development and Reform Commission engineering research center, Ministry of Education key laboratories and engineering research centers, Jiangsu key laboratories, collaborative innovation centers and engineering research centers, Jiangsu university key laboratories and key research bases in philosophy and the social sciences, Jiangsu decision-making consultation research bases, and a national demonstration center for technology transfer. In recent years, its total numbers of projects under national major science and technology programs, the National Natural Science Foundation and the National Social Science Fund have ranked among the highest at Chinese traditional Chinese medicine universities.

It actively engages with global developments and continually improves internationalization in traditional Chinese medicine education and cultural exchange. On June 20, 2010, President Xi Jinping attended and delivered an important speech at the unveiling of the Confucius Institute for Traditional Chinese Medicine jointly established with RMIT, highly praising the university’s educational standards. It was among the first traditional Chinese medicine institutions approved by the Ministry of Education to educate international students and students from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. It provides the full cycle of international student education, from Chinese language training to undergraduate, master’s and doctoral study. It is a World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine, an International Acupuncture Training Center, a National Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Export Base, and an international traditional Chinese medicine education and training base for Asia, Africa and Latin America. It has educated more than ten thousand international students and cooperates with universities, academic organizations and institutions in over 90 countries and regions. It has established 2 Confucius Institutes for Traditional Chinese Medicine, 4 national overseas traditional Chinese medicine centers, 6 overseas branches of its International Jingfang College, and 6 open cooperative education programs. With the University of Otago in New Zealand, it jointly operates the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Otago School of Smart Health. Its international and overseas traditional Chinese medicine education, research cooperation and talent training continue to improve. The Swiss University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, whose establishment it assisted, is Switzerland’s only officially recognized traditional Chinese medicine university and Europe’s first independent traditional Chinese medicine university authorized to award bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in the field.

At this new development stage, it will thoroughly implement new development principles and build a new development pattern, rooted in Jiangsu, serving the nation and engaging with the world. It will maintain distinctive development, continually pursue excellence, and strive to become a first-class university of Chinese medicine with Chinese characteristics, style and spirit.