China: Information on the admission requirements to medical schools in the province of Fujian, on their basic educational curricula, the length of their programs and the difference between a paramedic and a doctor

Information on admission requirements to medical schools in the province of Fujian could not be found among the sources currently available to the DIRB in Ottawa. However, the following information on the general admission criteria to China's institutions of higher education may be of interest to you.

Hu and Seifman reported in 1987 that university applicants must be senior middle school (high school) graduates or the equivalent, and single, physically healthy and not over 25 years of age (1987, 32). They must support the basic prinicples of "loving the country, the masses of the people, labor and science, obey the law, meet the needs of the state and be willing to study assidously for socialist modernization" (ibid.). In the case of outstanding "model workers and advanced workers" who have been recommended by their work units, the maximum age is extended to 28, and marital status is irrelevant (ibid.).

According to China: A Country Study, candidates for entrance examinations must be senior middle school graduates or the equivalent, and below 26 years of age (1988, 169). Work experience is not a requirement, and workers need permission from their enterprises to take examinations (ibid.).

Hu and Seifman indicated that all university applicants are required to take examinations in politics, Chinese language, mathematics and a foreign language (1987, 32). Students in science, engeneering, agriculture and medicine take additional tests in physics, chemistry and biology (ibid.). Preferential admission treatment is given to minority nationality candidates, students from disadvantaged areas and those who agree in advance to work in less developed regions after graduation (ibid.; China: A Country Study 1988, 170).

In addition to the written examinations, candidates for admission to institutions of higher education must also pass a physical examination and meet certain political qualifications (Hu and Seifman 1987, 32; also see China: A Country Study 1988, 171). Among these political qualifications are self-discipline, support for the Communist Party of China, love of the Motherland and of labor (Hu and Siefman 1987, 32). Grassroots party organizations are charged with evaluating applicants' political attitude, ideological awareness and moral character (ibid.).

Since 1981 the senior middle schools kept files on students's grades and information on their conduct, hobbies, awards, punishment, special skills and aptitudes, etc. (Hu and Seifman 1987, 32). Institutions of higher education use these files when considering applicants for admission (ibid.).

In his study on recruitment policies among institutions of higher education in China, Broaded indicates that three primary factors are taken into account: class background, political stance and behavior, and academic achievement (The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs Jan. 1990, 80). Academic achievement is usually based on standardized examinations although political influence is sometimes a factor in having one's children or the children of a friend admitted (ibid.). China: A Country Study indicates that prior to 1976 candidates for university entrance were usually the children of cadres and officials who used personal connections to gain entrance, but, now many institutions and key universities in China are allowed to recruit the most academically qualified students without regard to family background or political activism (1988, 166).

According to Hu and Seifman, only four to six per cent of middle school graduates go on to higher education (1987, 33), while Broaded estimates that only one to two per cent of college age young people attend higher education institutions in China (Jan. 1990, 80).

For further information on the admission criteria to China's higher education institutions as well as on China's education system, please refer to the attached documents.

Chinese Universities and Colleges: A Guide to Institutions of Higher Education in China indicates that undergraduate programs at Fujian Medical College are five years long while those at Fujian College of Traditional Chinese Medicine last from five to six (1989, 293-94). For further information on the above-mentioned medical colleges in Fujian and their basic curricula, please refer to the attached excerpts from Chinese Universities and Colleges: A Guide to Institutions of Higher Education in China. For general information on medical college programs offered in other provinces, please consult the attached excerpts from the same document and the 1992 World Bank Country Study entitled China: Long-Term Issues and Options in the Health Transition, as well as the Evans' article.

The World Bank indicates that there are three levels of health workers in China (1992, 94). High level personnel are trained at medical colleges or universities offering a bachelor of medicine degree while middle level personnel are trained in secondary or "health" schools as assistant or associate doctors of western medicine of public health, or as nurses, technicians and assistant level pharmacists stomatologists, and other such categories (ibid.). Primary level health workers include a wide variety of independent-practice and support-level personnel, ranging from the rural doctor upgraded from the "barefoot" category, to the village midwife, nurse's aide and assistant technician (ibid.). For more information on health workers in China, please consult the attached excerpts from two World Bank studies entitled China: Long-Term Issues and Options in the Health Transition and China: The Health Sector. Also attached is another 1992 World Bank Study on village doctors which could be of interest to you.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find attached the list of sources consulted in researching this information request.

References

The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs [Canberra]. January 1990. No. 23. C. Montgomery Broaded. "The Lost and Found Generation: Cohort Succession in Chinese Higher Education."

China: A Country Study. 1988. 4th ed. Edited by Robert L. Worden. Washington, DC: Secretary of the Army.

Chinese Universities and Colleges: A Guide to Institutions of Higher Education in China. 1989. Compiled by Chinese Education Association for International Exchanges. Beijing: Higher Education Press.

Hu, Shi Ming and Eli Seifman. 1987. Education and Socialist Modernization. New York: AMS Press.

World Bank. 1992. China: Long Term Issues and Options in the Health Transition. Washington, DC: World Bank.

Attachments

The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs [Canberra]. January 1990. No. 23. C. Montgomery Broaded. "The Lost and Found Generation: Cohort Succession in Chinese Higher Education," pp. 77-95.

Beijing Review [Beijing]. 16-22 May 1994. Vol. 37, No. 20. "Reform Designed for College Admissions," p. 6.

Burris, Mary Ann. 1991. "Chinese Medical Schooling: Global Science, Local Schools," Chinese Education: Problems, Policies, and Prospects. Edited by Irving Epstein. New York: garland Publishing, pp. 255-86.

China: A Country Study. 1988. 4th ed. Edited by Robert L. Worden. Washington, DC: Secretary of the Army, pp. 156-73.

Chinese Universities and Colleges: A Guide to Institutions of Higher Education in China. 1989. Compiled by Chinese Education Association for International Exchanges. Beijing: Higher Education Press, pp. 3, 30-35, 64-67, 83-85, 96-97, 107, 127-131, 150-53, 172-75, 200-05, 239-44, 259-61, 277-79, 293-94, 304-05, 320-24, 339-41, 364-69, 384-86, 401-05, 420-21, 445-48, 464-66, 476-77, 501-02, 514-15, 520-21, 525-26, 530-31.

Evans, John R. 1988. "Medical Education in China," Science and Medicine in Twentieth-Century China: Research and Education. Edited by John Z. Bowers et al. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, pp. 239-59.

de Geyndt, Willy et al. 1992. From Barefoot Doctor to Village Doctor in Rural China. Washington, DC: World Bank, pp. 1-17.

Hu, Shi Ming and Eli Seifman. 1987. Education and Socialist Modernization. New York: AMS Press, pp. 31-39, 78-79.

Inside China Mainland [Taipei, Taiwan]. September 1994. Vol. 16, No. 9. "Tuition Increases and Competition for Students at Institutions of Higher Learning," pp. 68-70.

Jamison, Dean T. et al. 1984. China: The Health Sector. Washington, DC: World Bank, pp. 48-52.

World Bank. 1992. China: Long Term Issues and Options in the Health Transition. Washington, DC: World Bank, pp. 93-106.