Faculty’s Attitudes Toward a Reformed Curriculum at a Medical School in China

Abstract

Purpose Wuhan University Medical School in China launched a pilot project to reform its education by adapting the medical curriculum of the University of Chicago. Students in the pilot were educated in the new curriculum while the rest remainedinthe traditionalone.Thisstudy assessedthe reform by exploring and comparing faculty participants’ perceptions of the reform and traditional curricula. Methods A survey was administered to faculty members who taught both curricula, asking them to assess each curriculum with respect to the following categories: overall content and structure, basic science courses, instruction, and assessments. Each category consisted of a set of questions. Frequency distributions and Wilcoxon signed ranks tests were used in data analyses. Results Participants’ (N=72) views of the reform curriculum and pedagogy were more positive than their views of the traditional counterpart. Significant differences between participants’ views were revealed in all the curricular categories. Item-by-item comparisons found many significant differences, suggesting an overall preference for the reform. Conclusion Study results suggest that the reform has been implementedeffectivelyandhasbeenwellreceivedbyfaculty participants. These findings have implications for similar reforminitiativesinChinaaswellasother developingcountries.