Recently, with the approval of China's Ministry of Education (MOE), the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine Otago Smart Health College, a non-independent legal institution of Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools (CFCRS) jointly established by Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine (NJUCM) and the University of Otago, New Zealand, was officially inaugurated. This marks a historic breakthrough for NJUCM in establishing institutions of CFCRS and represents another landmark achievement in the university's global engagement.
The Smart Health College aims to implement China's national mission of building a leading country in education in the new era and opening the education field wider to the outside world. It will implement major strategies, including Healthy China, the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and Digital China, while addressing challenges such as integrating TCM with modern technology, meeting growing healthcare demands, coping with an aging population, and the rapid development of intelligent manufacturing and artificial intelligence. The College is committed to cultivating high-quality talents with strong capacities for collaborative innovation, outstanding practical skills, and global perspectives in the interdisciplinary fields of medicine and engineering.
Founded in 1869, the University of Otago is New Zealand's first university and ranks second nationwide. In the 2025 QS World University Rankings, it stands at 197th globally. The university has received New Zealand's highest national award for tertiary teaching seven times and enjoys an international reputation in disciplines such as medicine, health sciences, and biotechnology.
In recent years, NJUCM has thoroughly implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on education, actively responding to the guiding spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which called for "encouraging first-rate foreign universities of science and engineering to develop partner schools and programs in China". Through the dual strategy of "bringing in" and "going out", NJUCM has steadily strengthened its international education capacity.
The successful approval of the Smart Health College will further enhance NJUCM's talent cultivation, faculty development, and discipline-building. It will provide strong support for serving China's major national strategies and Jiangsu Province's socioeconomic development, offer an essential platform for advancing the construction of NJUCM's Taizhou International Campus, and contribute NJUCM's wisdom and strength to the international development of TCM.