China’s private institutions for the education of health professionals: a time-series analysis from 1998 to 2012

Abstract

BackgroundPublic institutions have been the major provider of education for health professionals in China for most of the twentieth century. In the 1990s, the Chinese government began to encourage the establishment of private education institutions, which have been steadily increasing in numbers over the past decade. However, there is a lack of authoritative data on these institutions and little has been published in international journals on the current status of private education of health professionals in China. In light of this knowledge gap, we performed a quantitative analysis of private institutions in China that offer higher education of health professionals.MethodsUsing previously unreleased national data provided by the Ministry of Education of China, we conducted time-series and descriptive analyses to study the scale, structure and educational resources from 1998 to 2012 of private institutions for health professional education.ResultsThe number of private institutions that educate health professionals increased from two in 1999 to 123 in 2012. Private institutions displayed an average annual growth rate of 44.2% for enrolment, 59.0% for the number of students and 53.3% for the number of graduates. In 2012, nursing, clinical medicine and traditional Chinese medicine had the most students (37.2%, 32.8% and 8.9% respectively), representing 78.9% of all students in these institutions. Ninety-seven private institutions located in the more economically advantaged eastern and central China and only 26 ones were in the less economically advantaged western China, respectively turning out 85.2% and 14.8% of health professional graduates. There were less educational resources, such as the number of faculty members, physical space and assets, at private institutions than at public institutions.ConclusionsPrivate institutions for the education of health professionals have emerged quickly in China, contributing to the demand for health professionals that exceeds what public institutions are able to offer. At the same time, the imbalance of geographical distribution and poor educational resources of private institutions are of concern. It may be of utmost importance to enhance administration and supervision to better regulate private institutions and their development plans. Future studies may be needed to better examine the effects of private institutions on the production and allocation of health workers.

Variations in regulations to control standards for training and licensing of physicians: a multi-country comparison

“…Clinical training in a teaching hospital is mandatory prior to licensing in all countries, but the quality of this training depends on the training institution within which graduate doctors are embedded and the supervision received; this is difficult to monitor and subject to variable levels of controls. For example, there is evidence of private medical colleges that are not linked to appropriate teaching hospitals and clinical laboratories compromising the quality of mandatory clinical training [66]. As the number of medical colleges grow in a country, it is important to ensure that each one is linked to an appropriate teaching hospital where graduates can receive high quality clinical training.…”

Survey of Gross Anatomy Education in China: The Past and the Present

“…Two private medical schools were initially established in 1999. The number of private health institutions had increased to 123 by 2012, including 24 medical colleges (Hou et al, 2018). This number had increased to 26 private medical colleges in 2017 (MOE, 2017), although private institutions lack qualifying faculty members and educational resources.…”

“…This number had increased to 26 private medical colleges in 2017 (MOE, 2017), although private institutions lack qualifying faculty members and educational resources. Moreover, many private medical schools do not have their own affiliated or teaching hospitals (Hou et al, 2018). Third, in 1998, stand-alone medical schools were removed from the former Soviet model and changed into comprehensive universities the follow the model of medical education in the United States and other developed countries (Hou et al, 2014).…”

Higher education privatization in Nursing in Brazil: profile, challenges and trends

“…The trend towards privatization of health education seems to have a global dimension. In China, with government encouragement, private institutions for the education of health professionals developed rapidly, exceeding what public institutions were able to offer, but with unbalanced geographical distribution and questions on technical and educational capacity ( 27 ) . In Bahrain, Middle East, there is a strong incentive for students to enter the private sector, where they are offered a written guarantee of employment in the private sphere, for when they graduate ( 28 ) .…”

“…The Southeast region stands out for having the highest enrollment rates in recent years, as seen in Table 1. (27) . In Bahrain, Middle East, there is a strong incentive for students to enter the private sector, where they are offered a written guarantee of employment in the private sphere, for when they graduate (28) .…”