Concentrate efforts on building a world-class university of traditional Chinese medicine

　　1. Reasons

　　1. The revitalization and development of traditional Chinese medicine has ushered in a great opportunity due to the right time, location, and people. On December 22, 2015, in a letter to congratulate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, the Chairman said: “Traditional Chinese medicine is the treasure of ancient Chinese science and the key to the treasure house of Chinese civilization. At present, the revitalization and development of traditional Chinese medicine has ushered in a great opportunity with the right time, location, and people. I hope that the majority of traditional Chinese medicine workers will enhance their national self-confidence, bravely climb the peak of medicine, deeply explore the essence of traditional Chinese medicine, give full play to the unique advantages of traditional Chinese medicine, promote the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine, promote traditional Chinese medicine to the world, and effectively inherit, develop, and utilize traditional Chinese medicine, the precious wealth left to us by our ancestors, to write a new chapter in the great journey of building a healthy China and realizing the Chinese dream. ”In 2015, Tu Yoyo won the World Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, once again pushing "TCM" to the world stage and standing on the highest podium of science. Tu Youyou was invited to receive the award and gave a keynote speech on "The Discovery of Artemisinin: A Gift from Traditional Chinese Medicine to the World". She said: "Traditional Chinese medicine has accumulated a large amount of clinical experience over thousands of years of development starting from Shen Nong and Baicao. The medicinal value of natural resources has been sorted and summarized. Through inheritance, development, exploration and improvement, there will surely be discoveries and innovations that will benefit mankind. ” In recent years, the cause of traditional Chinese medicine has also received strong support from the chairman, prime minister and deputy prime minister. With the pace of traditional Chinese medicine legislation, the State Council executive meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on February 14, 2016 determined five measures to further promote the development of traditional Chinese medicine. We believe that "building a world-class university of traditional Chinese medicine" has also ushered in a great opportunity with the right time, location, and people!

　　2. The importance and urgency of building a world-class university of traditional Chinese medicine. Higher education in traditional Chinese medicine has gone through nearly 60 years of development, and traditional Chinese medicine is the most distinctive discipline with Chinese characteristics. In recent years, traditional Chinese medicine has gradually entered the world and its international status has continued to rise. Acupuncture has been popular in the United States for more than 40 years since the 1970s. In 2001, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Middlesex University in the United Kingdom jointly launched a five-year undergraduate education in traditional Chinese medicine at the school. It was the first cooperative project approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education to award Chinese degrees overseas. Since July 2012, Australia has implemented national registration management for traditional Chinese medicine practitioners and herbalists, establishing the legal status of traditional Chinese medicine for the first time in a Western country. On January 27, 2016, the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine Barcelona branch settled in Spain, marking the first time that a master's degree in traditional Chinese medicine entered the EU's mainstream medical education system. The inheritance and innovation of traditional Chinese medicine lie in education. It can be said that education in traditional Chinese medicine colleges determines the future direction of traditional Chinese medicine. However, currently, it is difficult for universities of traditional Chinese medicine across the country to rank among the top 100 in various university rankings in my country. For example, the "2015 Chinese University Evaluation Research Report" compiled by the Alibaba China Alumni Association Network released the "Top 700 Chinese University Rankings in 2015". Among universities of traditional Chinese medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, which ranks highest among universities, is only ranked 117th. Compared with comprehensive universities, investment in traditional Chinese medicine colleges and universities is obviously insufficient, and the comprehensive strength of traditional Chinese medicine colleges and universities has not reached the level it should be. In October 2015, the State Council issued a notice on the "Overall Plan for Coordinating and Promoting the Construction of World-Class Universities and First-Class Disciplines", which stated that the construction of a world-class university of traditional Chinese medicine should be put on the agenda.

　　2. Suggestions

　　1. Relying on Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, concentrate efforts to build a “world-class university of traditional Chinese medicine”. Beijing University of Chinese Medicine is the only higher education institution of traditional Chinese medicine that has entered the national “211 Project” and “985 Discipline Construction Platform”. It is the only key university of traditional Chinese medicine jointly built by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The school currently has 2 national key disciplines as first-level disciplines, covering 15 national second-level key disciplines, 48 ​​key disciplines of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2 Beijing key disciplines as first-level disciplines, and 8 Beijing key disciplines as second-level disciplines. The construction of key disciplines maintains a leading position among traditional Chinese medicine colleges across the country. In 2012, in the third round of subject evaluation organized by the Ministry of Education, the school ranked first in both traditional Chinese medicine and integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine. On November 17, 2014, witnessed by the President of the People's Republic of China and Australian Prime Minister Abbott, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and Western Sydney University signed a cooperation agreement to establish a "Chinese Medicine Center" in Australia, which also marked the beginning of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine's establishment of "Chinese Medicine Centers" overseas. To sum up, the comprehensive strength of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine ranks first among universities of Chinese medicine in the country. It is recommended to focus on building Beijing University of Chinese Medicine into a world-class university of Chinese medicine.

　　2. The Ministry of Education focuses on supporting powerful universities of traditional Chinese medicine to build world-class traditional Chinese medicine disciplines. On the afternoon of December 22, 2015, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Shanghai University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Chengdu University of Chinese Medicine and Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine jointly signed the "Cooperation Alliance to Create a World-Class University of Chinese Medicine". The five universities discussed together and reached consensus on many aspects, one of which is to build first-class disciplines. The subject of traditional Chinese medicine is a characteristic subject of my country's education. It is necessary to strengthen top-level design and optimize the conditions for subject construction. According to the disciplinary characteristics of the traditional Chinese medicine discipline itself, we will set up special majors, rationally layout the disciplines, and combine the international academic frontiers and the demand for traditional Chinese medicine talents to continuously explore the education and teaching model of traditional Chinese medicine. Only by promoting cooperation between the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and other comprehensive universities and promoting interdisciplinary research can there be new sparks, thereby promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional Chinese medicine and creating a first-class specialty in traditional Chinese medicine.

　　3. It is recommended to establish a “2011 Collaborative Innovation Center” at the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The discovery of artemisinin once again proves that traditional Chinese medicine is a treasure trove of modern science that requires in-depth research and exploration. However, the current scientific research support of universities of traditional Chinese medicine is far less than that of other comprehensive universities. Sohu Education counted 227 universities with scientific research expenditures exceeding RMB 100 million in 2013 from the "Compilation of Science and Technology Statistics of Higher Education Institutions 2014" released by the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education. Among them, only 8 universities of traditional Chinese medicine were on the list. The highest-ranked Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine only had RMB 404 million, ranking 72nd. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance jointly launched the “2011 Plan” and so far no traditional Chinese medicine projects have been shortlisted. Utilizing the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine, we should focus on major medical scientific issues that are “ urgently needed by the country and world-class.” While maintaining the characteristics and originality of traditional Chinese medicine, we should continuously improve our scientific research and innovation capabilities. It is recommended to establish a “2011 Collaborative Innovation Center” at the University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to strive to obtain internationally recognized major scientific research results.

　　4. Develop a scientific research achievement evaluation system and talent assessment system with characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine is a medical science formed during the Chinese nation's struggle against diseases for thousands of years. It is rooted in the fertile soil of traditional Chinese culture, absorbs the essence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, contains the rich essence of traditional Chinese culture, and has the dual attributes of modern natural science and humanities and social sciences. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine cannot be classified as natural science or humanities and social sciences completely according to modern subject classification. At present, domestic traditional Chinese medicine basically evaluates the scientific research results of traditional Chinese medicine and assesses talents according to the subject evaluation system of natural science. For example, it is obviously unreasonable to use SCI to evaluate the scientific research results of traditional Chinese medicine and use SCI as an indicator to evaluate traditional Chinese medicine talents. It is recommended to formulate a scientific research achievement evaluation system and talent assessment indicators suitable for traditional Chinese medicine, which will be conducive to the construction of a world-class traditional Chinese medicine university.