Chinese university to enroll foreign postgraduates on Tibetan medicine

A university in northwest China's Qinghai province plans to offer international students Master's degrees in traditional Tibetan medicine.

Tibetan Medical College of Qinghai University said Tuesday that it planned to recruit five foreign postgraduates this autumn. The Master's program will last three years, with students taught in both English and Tibetan.

Established in 1987, the college is one of the two higher educational institutes in China which train traditional Tibetan medicine practitioners. The other is in Tibet.

Etsocham, the college's honorary president, said that the school has had exchange programs with universities in the United States, Russia, the Republic of Korea and Japan since 2007. So far, nearly 100 overseas students have come for short-term training in Tibetan medicine.

Traditional Tibetan medicine was also listed as optional course at University of Virginia medical school last July, Etsocham said.

"The core of development of Tibetan medicine lies in training. Helping it go global will be beneficial to more people," he added.

Tibetan medicine, known as "Sowa Rigpa" in Tibetan, is at least 2,300 years old. It has absorbed the influences of traditional Chinese, Indian and Arab medicine and is mainly practiced in Tibet and the Himalayan region.

Tibetan medicine uses herbs, minerals and sometimes insects and animal parts. It was put on the list of China's national intangible cultural heritage in 2006.