Background: Due to various factors, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in mainland China has been refashioned, as with TCM education. For higher education, the appropriation of TCM education is a crucial issue. Objective: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors that influence TCM educational appropriations. Approach: We use an attribution analysis approach, and take one TCM university as an example to discuss related issues. Result: The analysis consist four parts: 1) value choice, i.e. economic development changes the pattern of public consumption which leads to the blooming of health care industries, and the social trend of traditional culture revitalization make public to pay more attention to TCM and its education; 2) legitimacy, i.e. several government policies released to advocate TCM and its education; 3) feasibility, i.e. how the external executive organizations initiate TCM education research and teaching projects; 4) as a result, TCM educational appropriation is increased. Conclusion: The analytical framework provides effective analysis path to understand the TCM educational appropriations, and shed light on future TCM development policies and strategies.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an important component of China’s medical system. How to educate TCM practitioners in China, therefore, has become a crucial issue. To contribute to this issue, the current research identified the competency model of TCM practitioners in China and developed an evaluation for TCM students. We combined Bloom’s taxonomy with our model construction to examine the current TCM practitioners’ requirements. Following the protocol of developing a measurement, we interviewed 20 TCM practitioners, conducted two rounds of surveys in China ( n = 220/ n = 489), ran exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and examined the correlation between the measurement and self-rated outcomes. The evaluation tool of TCM students consists of five factors: modern medical knowledge and skills, TCM medical knowledge and skills, professional ethics, communication and cooperation skills, and clinical practices. The reliability and validity of our evaluation tool were testified. Our work may contribute to TCM education in China.

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