Abstract
BackgroundChina has a vast and complex system of health-professional education, which underwent fast changes beginning in 1998. Because of the notable shortage of international published work on quantitative characteristics of the system, we aimed to analyse the scale, distribution, and changes of this system. MethodsUsing previously unreleased datasets from China's Ministry of Education, we did a time-series analysis by studying the changes and tendency of health-professional education institutions, students, faculty members, and infrastructures from 1998 to 2012. Only routine statistics of education institutions were analysed, and no informed consent was necessary. FindingsIn 1998–2012, the number of health-professional education institutions increased from 189 to 590 in the field of regular higher education. 123 private institutions existed in 2012, compared with zero in 1998. In the same period, the number of health-professional students increased from 0·3 million to 2·1 million, with an average growth rate of 14·9% per year. By contrast, a much slower growth rate or a decreased rate was seen for faculty members (7·6%), campus area per student (–1·4%), classroom area per student (1·9%), number of library books per student (–5·6%), and number of computer per 100 students (5·7%). Furthermore, a widening gap was seen between western China and the other two parts of the country (eastern and central China) in terms of health-professional educational resources and output. InterpretationExpansion of health-professional education has a positive role in addressing the shortage of health workforce in China. Nevertheless, the quality of education might be compromised because of the rapid increase in the number of students without commensurate strengthening of faculty and infrastructure. The widening gap in educational resources and output among different regions might worsen the unequal distribution of health professionals in the country. FundingChinese Academy of Engineering.
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