Xuzhou Medical University, Yunlong District, Xuzhou, China.
Social Contexts and Policies of Education, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China.
BMC Med Educ. 2022 Jul 27;22(1):574. doi: 10.1186/s12909-022-03597-z.
The number of international students who choose China as their destination for quality medical education is rising, particularly those from developing countries, but little is known about their adaptation and educational experiences at Chinese universities. This study explored the factors that these students perceived to have influenced their academic success.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with international students (N = 40) from developing countries from September 2020 to January 2021. Participants were graduates or in their second, third, fourth, fifth, or sixth academic year in two university medical schools. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach.
The participants chose China to study medicine based on cost, teaching resources, quality of medical education, recommendation, and safety factors. They considered an increase in medical knowledge, clinical skills and communication skills as an indicator of academic success. Positive factors affecting academic success were the support system (family, friends, seniors) and campus resources (library, laboratories, extra-curricular activities, scholarship). Negative factors were (i) issues affecting learning (English language barrier), adjusting to the medical education system in China, learning difficulties, failing exams, internship difficulties, problems with online learning during the pandemic, (ii) sociocultural issues (lacking knowledge of the Chinese language, challenges in daily life, perceived discrimination, interpersonal relationships), (iii) wellbeing issues (physical and mental health issues), and (iv) other challenges (climate, food, finance, scholarship). The influence of teachers, administrators and classmates was perceived as both positive and negative.
Factors affecting the academic success of international medical students at Chinese universities are multi-faceted. It is the collective responsibility of the host society, universities, teachers, administrators, classmates, families, and students themselves to address these factors in order to support and help students achieve academic success. Findings in our study support recommendations to improve teachers' English language skills and pedagogy and to invest in administrators' professional development. They also suggest that greater awareness of students' sociocultural and mental challenges and optimizing the positive influence of classmates could strengthen student support and better address student academic difficulties. The English proficiency and prior academic performance of international students should be considered during recruitment. Given the rapid growth in international MBBS programs in China, further research on the experiences of international students in China's medical programs is needed.
选择中国作为高质量医学教育目的地的国际学生人数不断增加，尤其是来自发展中国家的学生，但对于他们在中国大学的适应和教育经历知之甚少。本研究探讨了这些学生认为影响他们学业成功的因素。
2020 年 9 月至 2021 年 1 月，对来自发展中国家的 40 名留学生进行了半结构式访谈。参与者为两所大学医学院毕业或第二、三、四、五或第六学年的学生。对访谈进行了录音、转录，并使用主题分析方法进行了分析。
参与者选择来中国学医是基于费用、教学资源、医学教育质量、推荐和安全因素。他们认为增加医学知识、临床技能和沟通技能是学业成功的指标。影响学业成功的积极因素是支持系统（家庭、朋友、前辈）和校园资源（图书馆、实验室、课外活动、奖学金）。消极因素包括（i）影响学习的问题（英语语言障碍）、适应中国医学教育体系、学习困难、考试不及格、实习困难、大流行期间在线学习问题，（ii）社会文化问题（缺乏汉语知识、日常生活挑战、感知歧视、人际关系），（iii）身心健康问题，以及（iv）其他挑战（气候、食物、财务、奖学金）。教师、管理人员和同学的影响被认为既有积极的一面，也有消极的一面。
影响中国大学国际医学生学业成功的因素是多方面的。解决这些因素是东道国社会、大学、教师、管理人员、同学、家庭和学生自身的共同责任，以便为学生提供支持并帮助他们取得学业成功。我们的研究结果支持改善教师英语语言技能和教学法以及投资于管理人员专业发展的建议。它们还表明，更多地了解学生的社会文化和心理挑战，并优化同学的积极影响，可以加强学生支持，并更好地解决学生的学业困难。在招生过程中应考虑国际学生的英语水平和先前的学业成绩。鉴于中国国际医学学士课程的快速增长，需要进一步研究中国医学课程国际学生的经历。
