CHENGDU, China, November 3, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- An agreement was signed recently between West China Hospital, Sichuan University/West China School of Medicine and Thomas Jefferson University of the United States for the cultivation of an 8 year program for medical students. The qualified graduates will be granted with both the Doctor of Medicine degree from Sichuan University and the MD degree of Thomas Jefferson University. This is the second time that the graduates of West China School of Medicine can obtain medical degree of both China and the United States.
Thomas Jefferson University, a private health sciences university founded in 1824, is located in the heart of Philadelphia of Pennsylvania. It is composed of Jefferson Medical School, Jefferson Postgraduate School and Jefferson College of Health Professions. According to the agreement, Thomas Jefferson University will provide opportunities to certain number of excellent 8 year clinical students chosen by West China School of Medicine of studying in the medical school of Thomas Jefferson University for their last two years of the 8 year program.
The practice that the medical graduates of West China Hospital are granted with both Chinese and United States medical degrees has a long history. According to the book of 'History of West China University of Medical Sciences,' since the founding of West China Union University (WCUU) in 1910, the board of directors had worked on obtaining the certification to WCUU as the branch university of the well-know universities in western countries and the qualification to be conferred with degrees of those universities. In 1922, State University of New York (SUNY) agreed to grant the qualified medical and dental graduates of West China Hospital with MD degrees after assessing their academic scores. After 12 years, in view of the excellence of those graduates, the assessment was ceased in 1934 and SUNY authorized West China Union University to confer the MD degrees of SUNY directly. In 1938, West China Union University applied to the National Board of Medical Examiners of America and was approved to be a member of the association.
The cooperation between West China Hospital and Thomas Jefferson University reopened the express channel for the cultivation of the medical students of West China Hospital through international cooperation and provides accesses for the Chinese medical graduates to the United States. Moreover, it is good for expanding the medical talents pool of international background for the medical development of China.
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