Guangzhou Medical University — guide for international students

Guangzhou Medical University (广州医科大学, GMU) was founded in 1958 as Guangzhou Medical College. It began enrolling undergraduates in 1977 and postgraduates in 1985, received the authority to award doctoral degrees in 2001, and was renamed Guangzhou Medical University in 2013. It was elected to the Guangdong High-Level University Development Program in 2015 and, according to its Milestones page, designated a member of the national Double First-Class initiative in 2022, with Clinical Medicine as its Double First-Class discipline.

Much of GMU’s growth came from absorbing Guangzhou city hospitals: Guangzhou Fourth People’s Hospital became the First Affiliated Hospital in 1973, and later mergers created the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Affiliated Hospitals and the Affiliated Cancer Hospital. The university’s General Information page counts 15 affiliated hospitals (11 general and 4 specialty) with about 30,000 beds and 27 million patient visits a year; the Affiliated Hospitals page lists 12 of them by name. Respiratory medicine is the flagship — the university says it has “ranked first in China for 16 consecutive years” — and Professor Zhong Nanshan, a recipient of the Medal of the Republic, is on the faculty.

GMU has two campuses in Guangzhou: Panyu Campus in Xinzao Town, Panyu District, where the School of International Education is based, and the older Yuexiu Campus on Dongfeng West Road in the city centre. The Facts and Figures page counts 15,193 registered students — 9,758 undergraduates, 4,631 postgraduates including part-time students, 556 doctoral candidates and 242 international students — across 24 schools and 21 undergraduate programs. Two official pages give different staff figures: Facts and Figures lists 8,654 faculty, 556 doctoral supervisors and 1,512 master’s supervisors, while General Information lists 1,272 full-time faculty, 709 doctoral supervisors and 2,295 master’s supervisors. Neither page is dated, so treat both as approximate.

GMU admits international students to two degree routes, both published on 30 January 2026 on the English site: the Bachelor Program in Clinical Medicine (English Medium), i.e. the MBBS, and Chinese-taught master’s and doctoral study. Only clinical medicine is offered to international undergraduates; GMU publishes no other bachelor’s majors, no Chinese-language program and no foundation course for international students on its English pages. Two points set the MBBS apart. First, it requires a China Scholastic Competency Assessment (CSCA) transcript, with Maths and Chemistry as compulsory subjects. Second, places are allocated “on a first-come, first-served basis” — the 1 March to 30 August 2026 window may close early if places fill, so apply early rather than near the deadline. The MBBS is open to applicants aged 18–25; applicants who will be under 18 on 30 August 2026 are not excluded but must submit a notarized guardian authorization. Graduate applicants apply between 1 March and 30 June 2026 and need HSK Level 4 with 180 points or more, because the graduate guide offers no English-taught option. All applications go through the International Student Service System at gzhmu.at0086.cn. Neither 2026 guide mentions an application fee.

Degree programs

Select a degree level to see tuition, duration and entry requirements.

Non-degree programs

Documents to prepare

Application timeline

These are the dates Guangzhou Medical University published for the 2026 intake. That cycle has closed. Use them as a guide to when each step falls in the year, and check the official pages for the 2027 dates before you plan around them.

GMU publishes very little scholarship funding on its English pages. The one award named in the 2026 guides is the Guangdong Government Outstanding International Students Scholarship for Freshmen, set out in the master’s/doctoral guide. It is a one-time cash award for self-supporting new students, paid after registration, and winners still pay the standard tuition and accommodation fees. The 2026 MBBS guide mentions no scholarship at all, and GMU’s English pages publish no Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC) channel or university-funded award. Plan to fund an MBBS yourself, and ask the School of International Education whether any award is open to your intake.

GMU’s research is led by respiratory medicine. It hosts the State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease (established 2007), the National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease (2013) and the National Center for Respiratory Medicine (2020), and in 2024 added a National Belt and Road International Joint Laboratory. The Research Platforms page lists 90 research platforms in total, including more than 37 provincial key laboratories covering orthopaedics, neurology, urology, obstetrics, reproductive medicine, allergy and immunology, and molecular pharmacology. The General Information page gives a different, narrower count — 33 institutes, a State Key Laboratory and 42 provincial research platforms. It also reports more than 32,000 SCI-indexed papers, 30 of them in Nature, Science and Cell, and ranks GMU 73rd nationally in the ESI comprehensive standings.

GMU’s General Information page describes collaboration with more than 60 universities and research institutions in 20 countries and regions, including the Sino-French Hoffmann Institute. Its Partnerships & Programs page lists partners in Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania, and program types including student exchanges, 2+2 undergraduate programs, joint graduate training, summer programs and staff exchange in fields such as health administration, psychology, nursing, rehabilitation and biomedical engineering. These are mainly for GMU’s Chinese students — GMU publishes no inbound exchange or visiting-student route for international applicants. Since 2025 it has been building a network of overseas medical training centres, starting at Astana Medical University in Kazakhstan.

GMU publishes no employment or licensing-exam statistics for its international MBBS graduates, and no careers service for international students, on its English pages. If you plan to practise in your home country, check with your own medical council whether it recognises a six-year English-medium MBBS from GMU, and what it requires of the internship year. GMU’s guide does not address home-country licensing. For any job or placement figures you see elsewhere, ask the School of International Education for the official source.

International students live on campus, on either the Panyu or the Yuexiu campus, and the admission guides price dormitories per person per academic year. GMU’s Accommodation & Dining page, written for all students, describes about 12,000 beds. Undergraduate rooms are four-person, at about 7 m² per person, with air conditioners, fans, bunk beds, wardrobes, desks and network ports, hot-water showers, and shared washing machines and water heaters on each floor. Buildings have access control, electronic monitoring, a 24-hour guard post and visitor registration, with cafeterias, fruit shops, supermarkets, barbers and courier stations nearby. GMU does not publish separate room types for international students, so confirm your room arrangement with the office.

Accommodation

Dining

The canteen covers about 13,130 m² with 3,150 seats, serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and late-night snacks — at least 50 breakfast items and no fewer than 100 dishes at lunch and dinner, from Cantonese rice-noodle rolls and clay-pot rice to coffee and milk tea. A dedicated window serves Northwest-style cuisine for ethnic-minority and international students. Meals are paid by the student and are not included in fees.

Facilities

Reach the International Student Affairs Office, School of International Education, Guangzhou Medical University for questions about applications, documents, scholarships and arrival. Type university programs and offices are based on campus in Guangzhou.