Comparative study of Medical Technology development in China and abroad.

Objective To compare and analyze the current situation of Medical Technology development in domestic and foreign famous medical schools. Methods By searching U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings, Academic Rankings of World Universities (ARWU), and the websites of domestic and foreign medical schools and Ministry of Education of China, and interviewing the experts, this study summarized the differences of Medical Technology discipline in China and aboard in three aspects, i.e. major setting, enrollment conditions and academic degree granting, and disciplinary strength. Results·In the U.S. News discipline rankings for undergraduate education,"Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging" was the only subject in the field of Medical Technology. As for the discipline rankings for graduate education, the subject category of"Medicine" included"Radiology", and the subject category of"Health"contained several subjects related with Medical Technology, including"Audiology" "Rehabilitation Counseling" "Speech-Language Pathology" "Occupational Therapy"and"Physical Therapy" . In the ARWU,"Medical Technology" discipline contained"Medical Laboratory Technology""Neuroimaging"and"Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging" . At the stage of undergraduate education in China, Medical Technology-related majors included 13 majors in the category of"Medical Technology"and 3 majors in the category of"Clinical Medicine" . At the stage of graduate education in China, Medical Technology-related majors included 11 majors in the category of "Medicine"and 2 majors in the category of"Natural Science" . Taking Rehabilitation-related majors as examples of enrollment condition and academic degree granting, there were many master's and doctoral programs abroad, and the enrollment conditions were flexible. However, the Rehabilitation-related majors in China concentrated on the undergraduate education; the graduate education enrollment required relevant professional background. In the ARWU, the top five universities in"Medical Technology"in Chinese mainland ranked 76-200 globally. The indicators of publications in the journals of Q1 range and in the top journals as well as the honours of prominent prizes were relatively low. Conclusion·There is still a gap in the international rankings of Medical Technology discipline between domestic universities and the top universities abroad. The construction of world's first-class discipline of Medical Technology in China will be boosted by optimizing the major setting, adjusting the professional education system and academic degree granting, and strengthening the scientific research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]