Background: As the number of Asian and African students studying medicine in China increases, it is imperative to evaluate the educational experiences of these international medical students (IMSs). This study was intended to investigate opinions of China-educated IMSs towards the medical curriculum and the impact of Chinese language capability on their clinical studies.Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was circulated to the final-year IMSs during the graduation time from May 2019 to July 2019 in 4 universities in China. The questionnaire asked IMSs to assess the quality of medical education and provide a self-evaluation of their Chinese language capability. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether IMSs’ Chinese language capability was associated with their clinical experiences and clinical competence.Results: Overall, we received 209 valid responses, of which 76.1% were satisfied with the quality of medical education. Genetics, physics, and mathematics were perceived as the least relevant basic courses for medical practice, and 21.5% of student reported that community-oriented medicine was a neglected subject. Notably, 58.9% of students had positive views about discussions on ethical topics during their clerkships, and 71.3% believed they had acquired sufficient clinical skills to begin a residency program. Chinese speaking skills and communication initiatives were found to be critical factors in influencing students’ clinical experiences and competence. Conclusion: This study presents the perceptions of China-educated IMSs towards medical curriculum from various aspects. Results show that language influences the education experiences of IMSs. Collectively, these results indicate that the curriculum for IMSs in China should be more problem-based and community-engaged to improve IMSs’ learning experiences and preparation for community deployment. Furthermore, training curriculum for the oral Chinese should be improved to equip IMSs with sufficient language competence to enable them to efficiently carry out clinical clerkship and rotations. Our findings provide evidence for benchmarking medical curricular codifications tailored for Asian and African students.

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Background: As an increasing number of Asian and African students are studying medicine in China, it is imperative to assess the training quality of these international medical students (IMSs). The study was to gain insight into the attitudes from China-educated IMSs towards the medical curriculum and the influence of Chinese language abilities on their clinical studies. Methods: A modified Association of American Medical Colleges Graduation Questionnaire was applied among the final-year IMSs during the graduation season from May 2019 to July 2019 at four universities in China. The questionnaire asked IMSs to evaluate medical education quality and assess their Chinese language capacity. One-way ANOVA was used to determine whether participants' Chinese language capacity was associated with their clinical experience and clinical competence. Results: Overall, 209 valid responses were received and 76.1% were satisfied with the quality of the medical education. Genetics, physics, and mathematics were seen as the least helpful basic courses for practice, and 21.5% thought community-oriented medicine was a topic that lacked instruction. 58.9% were positive that discussions surrounding ethical topics were involved during their clerkships, and 71.3% believed they had acquired sufficient clinical skills to begin a residency program. Chinese speaking skill and communication manner were significant factors to influence students' clinical experience and competence. Conclusion: The study demonstrates China-educated IMSs' perceptions of the contemporary education policy from various aspects and language influence on their education experiences. The curriculum for IMSs in China should be more problem-based to enhance course interaction and more community-engaged to meet people's needs for health and medical care. Besides, the oral Chinese teaching and the initiative to speak need to be emphasized to facilitate the clinical training for IMSs. Our findings can be used as a source of evidence to benchmark medical curricular codifications catering for Asian and African students.

Global competence has become an important competence for medical graduates in the globalized world. However, no research has been made to measure medical graduates’ global competence. To fill the gap, this study was built upon the scholarship published in the field and administered the questionnaire to China medical graduates sampled from four institutions of medical education. We found that the sample had a relatively good level of global competence in general, but lacked skills in cross-cultural communication and international academic communication. We also found that “Internationalization Concept and System” and “International Development of Teachers” in the school dimension and “Taking International Courses”, “International Publication” and “Participation in International Conference” in the dimension of individual international involvement had a significant positive impact on the cultivation of global competence. In conclusion, the universities should aim for the construction of an effective institutional mechanism for internationalization to help improve students’ global competence.

Background: As the number of Asian and African students studying medicine in China increases, it is imperative to evaluate the educational experiences of these international medical students (IMSs). This study was intended to investigate opinions of China-educated IMSs towards the medical curriculum and the impact of Chinese language capability on their clinical studies.Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was circulated to the final-year IMSs during the graduation time from May 2019 to July 2019 in 4 universities in China. The questionnaire asked IMSs to assess the quality of medical education and provide a self-evaluation of their Chinese language capability. One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine whether IMSs’ Chinese language capability was associated with their clinical experiences and clinical competence.Results: Overall, we received 209 valid responses, of which 76.1% were satisfied with the quality of medical education. Genetics, physics, and mathematics were perceived as the least relevant basic courses for medical practice, and 21.5% of student reported that community-oriented medicine was a neglected subject. Notably, 58.9% of students had positive views about discussions on ethical topics during their clerkships, and 71.3% believed they had acquired sufficient clinical skills to begin a residency program. Chinese speaking skills and communication initiatives were found to be critical factors in influencing students’ clinical experiences and competence. Conclusion: This study presents the perceptions of China-educated IMSs towards medical curriculum from various aspects. Results show that language influences the education experiences of IMSs. Collectively, these results indicate that the curriculum for IMSs in China should be more problem-based and community-engaged to improve IMSs’ learning experiences and preparation for community deployment. Furthermore, training curriculum for the oral Chinese should be improved to equip IMSs with sufficient language competence to enable them to efficiently carry out clinical clerkship and rotations. Our findings provide evidence for benchmarking medical curricular codifications tailored for Asian and African students.