France and China further cooperation in medical education
Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine has announced that its Sino-French Joint Medical College will begin high-end nursing French classes next year to further boost medical exchange and cooperation between China and France.
Currently, the joint college has eight-year clinical medicine French classes and five-year medical laboratory technology French classes. The new nursing classes will be a new achievement of the two countries' cooperation on clinical research and medical education, Dr Shen Baiyong, executive director of the college told a Sino-French medical seminar in Shanghai on Saturday.
All students at the French classes will receive medical education in both Chinese and French. They will go to France in the last year of their education and will have chance to receive their residency training in French hospitals.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine has a long history of collaboration with French medical schools, which can be dated back to a century ago when its predecessor Aurora University School of Medicine was established in 1911.
After China and France established diplomatic relations in 1964, China's first clinical medicine French class was set up at the medical school. In the past 60 years, the class has cultivated nearly 1,000 excellent medical students. By the end of last year, the school has sent nearly 500 students to study in France, while France dispatches some 30 medical students to Shanghai for clinical training each year.
In 1997, the clinical medicine French class project was officially incorporated into the cooperation channel between China and France and in 2018. Under the joint appeal of China and France, the Sino-French Joint Medical College was officially established to further improve the quality of French medical teaching and deepen Sino-French cooperation.
Marc Delpech, vice director of the college from the French side, said he is honored to be a participant in the Sino-French medical exchange, and added that the joint college offers great opportunity for medical innovation and technological development.
"Students recruited by the college are all top students and they receive the highest standard of medical training, which gives them better access to educational resources and makes them more competitive," he said.
"I believe they will become a backbone force of innovation and medical practice in the future."