Extending professional education and practice in Chinese medicine within higher education

This case study examines the challenges facing Chinese medicine in UK; the response of Middlesex University as a leader in the provision of Chinese medicine education and training in Europe when in 1997, it added a degree in Chinese medicine into its
academic portfolio; and the processes of developing and implementing two substrategic projects which will lay the fOlilldation for Middlesex University to extend its professional education and practice in Chinese medicine.
Chinese medicine has always been available to the Chinese population in UK. After a long period of stable and incongruous existence, Chinese medicine began to experience rapid growth in the early 1980s, stimulated by increased consumer interest in self sufficiency, and back-to-nature to manage their own health. There is also an increase consumer dissatisfaction with the side effects of the chemical drugs. However, in UK as it is the case in Europe, Chinese medicine is not licensed as a medicine and not accepted by orthodox medical practitioners.
The case study confirmed that Middlesex University is on course to own a sound strategy to nurture the development and growth of the professional education and practice in Chinese medicine within the higher education sector. The groundwork is being prepared by these two projects in the case study, the European Centre for
Chinese Medicine and the Chinese Medicine Association of Suppliers to enable the University to be the Chinese medicine education and research "hub" for Europe.
The case study supported the notion that insider knowledge can help smooth the complex and complicated human relations to achieve collaborative partnership with different nationals with their attendant cultural beliefs, practice and values, socioeconomic and political systems. The projects were neither developed nor managed as conventional projects rather the case study advocated for a flexible approach when managing innovative, collaborative and multi-nationals projects.