Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (ZCMU) is located near the south bank of Qiantang River, in the city of Hangzhou, a world-famous tourist resort known for its beautiful scenery and rich cultural heritage. ZCMU is a teaching and research-oriented university with Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Chinese Materia Medica as its leading subjects. As a key university in Zhejiang Province, it is jointly constructed by the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.
Traced back to Zhejiang Training School of TCM in June 1953, Zhejiang College of TCM was officially founded in June 1959. It was eligible of awarding doctoral degree in 1998, and moved to Hangzhou-based Binjiang Higher Education Zone in 2000. In February 2006, it was renamed as Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (ZCMU). In September 2015, Fuchun Campus was put into use. The university now has two campuses covering an area of nearly 1,000 mu, with the total construction area exceeding 470,000 square meters.
ZCMU now sets schools including the First School of Clinical Medicine, the Second School of Clinical Medicine, the Third School of Clinical Medicine (School of Rehabilitation Medicine), the Fourth School of Clinical Medicine, Hangzhou School of Clinical Medicine, School of Basic Clinical Medicine ,School of Public Health, School of Stomatology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Nursing, School of Medical Technology and Information Engineering, School of Life Sciences, School of Humanities and Management, School of Continuing Education, International Education College, Institute of Marxism, Department of Physical Education, and Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. ZCMU has 3 directly affiliated hospitals, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine), the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Xinhua Hospital of Zhejiang Province), and the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University (Zhongshan Hospital of Zhejiang Province). Moreover, there are another 22 Hospitals located in different cities of Zhejiang Province affiliated to ZCMU.
ZCMU is among the first batch of universities in China to recruit and cultivate postgraduates of TCM, and takes the lead among Zhejiang provincial universities eligible of awarding doctoral degrees and establishing post-doctoral research stations. Now it has three doctoral degree disciplines in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese Materia Medica, and Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine. Also it has 8 master’s degree disciplines in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese Materia Medica, Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Clinical Medicine, Nursing, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medical Technology, and Basic Clinical Medicine. It has three post-doctoral research stations, namely Station for Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese Materia Medica, and Integration of Chinese and Western Medicine. So far there are over 18,000 full-time students in ZCMU, including over 3,100 doctoral and master degree students, and over 800 international students.
ZCMU is a national demonstration base for cultivating innovative talents. It has independently cultivated a number of high-level talents, including academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, National Masters of TCM, National “Ten Thousand Talent Program” Leading Talents, Chief Scientist of the 973 Program, and National Famous Doctors of TCM etc. Currently, ZCMU has a faculty and staff of more than 1,300 personages, and among them, over 330 with senior professional titles (the directly affiliated hospitals included), including distinguished professors with the title of “the Cheung Kong(Changjiang) Scholar”awarded by the Ministry of Education of P.R.C, special-grade experts of Zhejiang Province, experts with the State Council Special Allowance, recipients for National Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholar, recipients for National Science Funds for Excellent Young Scholar, Provincial Masters of TCM, and distinguished professors with the title of “Qianjiang Scholar”, etc.
ZCMU insists on taking the moral education as the foundation andstrives to improve the quality of education and teaching. It offers 32 undergraduate programs among which there are 8 national first-class construction programs, namely Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese Materia Medica, Clinical Medicine, Pharmacy, Acupuncture and Tuina, Nursing, Audiology and Speech Rehabilitation, Public Management. The Traditional Chinese Medicine, Clinical Medicine and Chinese Materia Medica have passed the certification by the Ministry of Education of P.R.C. It has built a batch of teaching platforms, such as national experimental teaching demonstration center and national off-campus practice base for college students. It has been awarded “Excellence” twice in undergraduate evaluation by the Ministry of Education of P.R.C, and passed the undergraduate evaluation by the Ministry of Education of P.R.C in 2007, with 3 national teaching achievement awards. In recent years, graduates’ passing rates of doctor qualification examination ranked among the top of similar colleges and universities in China.
ZCMU strives to promote discipline construction and constantly improves its capabilities of sci-tech innovation and service. It’s among the first batch of Zhejiang provincial universities to be awarded national key discipline (Clinical Foundation of TCM). Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chinese Materia Medica are among the second batch of characteristic and preponderant key disciplines of Zhejiang Province; Clinical Medicine, pharmacology and toxicology have been included in the top 1% of global ESI ranking. It has 3 A-class and 6 B-class discipline construction programs of Zhejiang “13th Five-Year-Plan”. It has 2 national clinical research bases of TCM and a number of science and innovation platforms, including the National Key Laboratory of TCM Research, Zhejiang “2011 Collaborative Innovation Center”, Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory, Zhejiang Engineering Research Center and Zhejiang International Sci-tech Cooperation Base. It has won 5 National Awards in Sci-tech Progress and Technological Invention, and 11 Provincial Sci-tech first prizes. It hosts two academic journals,Journal of Zhejiang Chinese Medical UniversityandZhejiang Clinical Medicine. It has carried out industry-university-research strategic cooperation with more than 10 cities (counties and districts) in Zhejiang Province and beyond, including Zhejiang International Trade Group and other well-known enterprises, boosting industrial transformation, upgrading and serving local economic and social developments as well as the development of TCM.
ZCMU has begun its international education and cooperation since 1984, and has established cooperative relationships with more than 120 educational, scientific research and medical units in over 40 countries and regions such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Czech Republic. It has hired more than 50 foreign experts and scholars as visiting professors. ZCMU has established Confucius Institutes in Coimbra University in Portugal and University of the Western Cape in South Africa, and has built overseas TCM centers in Romania, Israel and Republic of Belarus. So far as right now, nearly 10,000 international students from more than 60 countries and regions have graduated from ZCMU. Furthermore, it is the provincial cultural and educational base of TCM for international students.
In the new era, ZCMU will continue to adhere to the motto of “Seek the Origin at High Aspiration”, stick to the philosophy of “Student-centered, Academics-prioritized”, and commits to building a first-class TCM university characterized with cultural inheritance and innovation.
(The above data are updated to March 2021)