Indian Students in China: The Case of Medical Education

CHINA AS AN IMPORTANT DESTINATION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

Since the beginning of the century, higher education in China has expanded, making the country an increasingly popular destination for students from around the world. Experts estimate that the number of inbound students to China will increase to 500,000 by 2020. Presently, almost 70 percent of international students in China hail from Asia. China is an attractive destination for students for many reasons. In the last decade, the country has invested heavily in major universities to elevate them to world-class institutions. At least three Chinese universities rank among the top 100 in the World University Rankings.

The Chinese government has introduced several measures to attract foreign students. In recent years, the government has offered scholarships for students in certain felds. Several universities now feature “split campus” programs wherein they partner with a foreign university, mostly in North America. A participating student completes part of the program in the Chinese university and the rest at the partner university in the West. At joint venture universities, students can get an international degree by studying just in China. Faculty from partnering universities in North America visit their Chinese counterparts to teach for a time. Many students from the West like to study in China because the cost of living and tuition are relatively lower than most developed countries and the quality of education is similar in many ways.

INDIAN STUDENTS IN CHINA

In 2014, over 300,000 Indian students travelled abroad for higher education. While the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom are still major destinations for Indian students, China is gradually becoming an important destination due to the availability of several Chinese government-sponsored scholarships in the humanities, social sciences, business management, medicine and engineering.

According to Project Atlas, managed by the Institute for International Education, the total number of Indian students in China in 2015 was reported at 16,694 as compared to 765 just a decade ago. Interestingly, 80 percent of them are pursuing undergraduate medical school, followed by Chinese language and literature. Comparatively, the number of Chinese students in India has remained low at about 2,000.

INDIAN STUDENTS STUDYING MEDICINE IN CHINA

For Indian students, the most preferred destination to study medicine abroad is China, followed by Russia, Nepal, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines. Over 13,000 Indian students are currently studying medicine in these countries.

China opened its doors to foreign students seeking education in medicine in 2004. Streamlining regulations took a number of years. The Medical Council of India (MCI) presently lists 45 Chinese Medical Institutions, all public, which offer 3,470 seats to international students. This list has been issued and approved by the Ministry of Education of the PRC to include only institutions that offer medical education in the English language. The six-year program includes a year-long internship, and compulsory Mandarin classes are a prerequisite for the internship in the fnal year. The Indian Embassy in Beijing provides detailed guidelines for students hoping to study medicine in China. Recruitment of Indian students is facilitated through ‘agents’ in India. Some shady agents have emerged, but guidelines issued by the Indian Embassy clearly warn students about them. Some students were recruited by agents and sent to substandard private universities that fail to meet the standards of the Ministry of Education in China.

Analysis of the 45 medical universities in China approved by the MCI shows that they are mostly concentrated in the eastern provinces, with Jiangsu having the most approved universities at 7, followed by Guangdong with 5, Hubei with 4 and Liaoning, Sichuan and Zhejiang with 3 each. Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China’s westernmost, has 2.

Several factors push students away from India, and others pull them to China. In India, the demand for seats in medical colleges exceeds supply signifcantly. Admission to public medical colleges is determined by a highly competitive examination, but medical education is becoming more commercialized. Almost 50 percent of medical colleges in India are private. These schools charge more than many students can afford, so they seek more affordable opportunities abroad.

And the paramount factor pulling Indian students to Chinese medical colleges is affordability. Compared to comparable countries, Chinese education is the cheapest when fees, accommodation, living costs and other expenses are considered. In 2014, an Indian undergraduate student in China spent an average of 2.5 million rupees to graduate. Unlike private Indian colleges, students were pleasantly surprised by the lack of hidden costs in the form of donations in China. All colleges teach in English but students must also study the Chinese language to survive interaction with Chinese patients during the internship year.

Along with affordability, students have also remarked that Chinese medical colleges have better equipment, laboratory facilities and technology compared to those in India. They claim that the training they received in China was high-quality and often better than private and public medical colleges at home. In some cases they noted that they received less practical knowledge and clinical exposure due to the language barrier. Many have been able to overcome such diffculties and use the language effectively. Some students have even started returning for post-graduate studies because those seats in India are also very limited.

The students acknowledged that they never imagined studying in China and had to learn more than technical skills upon arriving in a completely new culture and environment. Women students found it a very safe country. The Indian embassy encourages students to interact more with people from different countries and to absorb as much as they can about China.

Upon returning, most Indian graduates of overseas studies, except for those who went to the U.S., the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, or Canada, have to take the Foreign Medical Graduate Exams (FMGE) organized by the National Board of Examinations (NBE) before they can legally practice in India. This examination is fairly diffcult and many graduates complain that students graduating from Indian medical colleges do not have to pass such an exam. Such issues must be resolved by the various stakeholders within India.

The problem with recognizing foreign medical graduates returning to India has not deterred Indian students from going to China to study medicine. The volume has steadily increased over the years and appears poised to continue on that trajectory in the future. Obviously, many students have returned with a wealth of positive experiences. Young Indians are opening their minds to their Asian neighbors, especially China, and see numerous opportunities for higher education just next door. While English-speaking nations are still the preferred destination for most Indians, China is an emerging contender and one of the top non-English speaking countries where Indians can receive quality higher education.

During a visit to China by the President of India in May 2016, several memoranda of understanding were signed to facilitate student and faculty exchanges as well as collaboration in research and innovation. Educators in both countries hope that such exchanges and academic cooperation in higher education will be a priority in bilateral talks and that more students from both India and China will choose to study in each other’s universities.

The author is an associate fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) in Delhi