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MedUni Vienna starts course on Traditional Chinese Medicine

As well as orthodox medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is also extremely popular among Austrians. In response to this trend, MedUni Vienna will be the first Austrian university to offer a Postgraduate University Course in TCM from the winter semester 2010/11 onwards.

(Vienna, 19 March 2010) As well as orthodox medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is also extremely popular among Austrians. In response to this trend, MedUni Vienna will be the first Austrian university to offer a Postgraduate University Course in TCM from the winter semester 2010/11 onwards.

Dr. Yan Ma, university lecturer at the Institute of Pathophysiology, was commissioned by MedUni Vienna to draw up a curriculum for a TCM course, which will be launched as early as this autumn. "It is vital that universities teach TCM," explains Yan Ma, who has not only completed a TCM programme but also boasts a doctor’s degree in biochemistry, "because translation errors and half-truths abound outside of educational institutions run by the State."

The course will comprise five modules and last for five semesters. It aims to work out the differences to Western medicine but also complement it. Renowned Chinese experts such as Prof. Dr. Jing Chen and Prof. Dr. Dexian Jia from Beijing University of TCM will act as guest lecturers. The main target group of the course are medical doctors, pharmacists and scientists, but holders of degrees in the humanities are also entitled to attend the course if they can prove professional experience with TCM. Students will be taught the theoretical bases of Chinese diagnostics, acupuncture and pharmacology; Chinese characters and philosophy will also be included in the curriculum. The current approaches of TCM will be presented and the quality standards of the individual herbal mixtures and preparations will be discussed within the framework of applicable legislation. Finally students will also be introduced to practical application. Comments Vice Rector Rudolf Mallinger, who is responsible for study and teaching: "The inclusion of TCM as a university-based postgraduate course will represent a major contribution to quality assurance in the field of Chinese treatment methods, which are gaining in popularity among the population."