From 2028, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) will confer its own Chinese Medicine degree. It is the first locally conferred Chinese Medicine undergraduate degree programme accredited by the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners Board (TCMPB), and has been developed for Singapore’s healthcare needs.

The new four-year Bachelor of Chinese Medicine degree programme has been launched by Ong Ye Kung, Singapore’s Minister for Health. It will be offered by NTU’s School of Biological Sciences and will welcome its first cohort in August 2024.

The new Bachelor’s degree programme in Chinese Medicine will be designed with input from local TCM institutions and the TCMPB, and draws on the expertise of NTU faculty and visiting faculty from overseas universities. A governing board comprising representatives from NTU, industry leaders, and Chinese medicine academics from other universities will oversee the programme.

Weekly three-hour clinical training sessions at the NTU Chinese Medicine Clinic are built into the curriculum to expose students to clinical settings. In addition, students are required to go for two-month internships at partner TCM institutions at the end of every semester to accumulate clinical experience and gain confidence as they assume a more significant role in caring for patients under the supervision of clinical mentors.

There are also plans to set up overseas clinical internships and exchange programmes for students to expose them to how TCM is practised worldwide.