About
About Southern Medical University
Southern Medical University (南方医科大学, SMU) was founded in October 1951 in north-east China as a People’s Liberation Army medical school. It moved to Guangzhou in 1975, was named the First Military Medical University the same year, and was designated a national key university at the end of that decade — the English history page dates the recognition to 1978, the Chinese introduction to 1979. The decisive change came in August 2004, when — by decision of the State Council and the Central Military Commission — it was handed to the government of Guangdong Province, left the army and took its present civilian name. The military inheritance is still visible in the emblem, which carries olive branches and five stars alongside a kapok flower for Guangzhou.
SMU has two campuses in two cities, and which one you live on depends on your programme: Guangzhou at No. 1023–1063 Shatai South Road in Baiyun District, and Shunde at No. 33 Magang Avenue, Ronggui Subdistrict, Shunde District, Foshan — about an hour south-west. The English history page gives the two a combined area of roughly 1.68 million square metres.
Academically the university is medical from end to end. Its Chinese discipline-building page lists 11 first-level disciplines with doctoral authorisation and 16 with master’s authorisation, five national key and key cultivation disciplines, six key disciplines of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and ten Guangdong provincial key disciplines, with 15 disciplines in the ESI global top 1% — clinical medicine and pharmacology & toxicology reaching the top 1‰. Teaching runs through 19 schools, including the First Clinical Medical School (Nanfang Hospital) and the Second Clinical Medical School (Zhujiang Hospital), and the clinical network covers eight directly affiliated and seven jointly built hospitals, 13 of them Grade-III Class-A, with about 22,500 beds. In 2004 SMU was approved as one of the first Chinese institutions to pilot the eight-year medical degree, and its Chinese introduction page describes it as the only independent medical university — as opposed to a medical faculty inside a comprehensive university — running that programme.
One point of positioning is worth being clear about, because agents often blur it. SMU is not a Project 985 university and is not in the national Double First-Class list. Its English history page records its 2008 inclusion in Guangdong’s own 211 project as a provincial key institution and calls it a candidate university to be jointly constructed by the Ministry of Education, the national health authority and the Guangdong government; its Chinese pages describe it as the only medical school among the first five provincial universities Guangdong picked for high-level construction. In the international tables it sits at 251–300 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2026, while its QS profile shows no overall world rank at all — only an Asia rank of #353 and a subject band of #51–150.
Times Higher Education’s profile for Southern Medical University, which also records about 18,620 students and 7% international students
SMU holds no overall place in the QS World University Rankings. Its QS profile lists the Asia rank, #171 in the Eastern Asia table and a QS subject band of #51–150
Per the university’s 学科建设 page; clinical medicine and pharmacology & toxicology are in the top 1‰. SMU’s THE profile gives the older figure of 12
Human anatomy and histoembryology, internal medicine (gastroenterology) and integrative medicine (clinical) are the national key disciplines; pathology and pathophysiology and surgery (orthopaedics) are the cultivation disciplines
An undergraduate medical degree actually taught in English
Clinical medicine and dentistry are delivered in both Chinese and English; every other bachelor’s major is Chinese-only. The English routes are the MBBS and the BDS, both six years including a year of hospital internship.
Fifteen hospitals to train in
Eight directly affiliated and seven jointly built hospitals, 13 of them Grade-III Class-A, with roughly 22,500 beds. Nanfang and Zhujiang are not arm’s-length partners — they are the university’s First and Second Clinical Medical Schools.
A military hospital system turned civilian
Fifty-three years as a PLA medical university, then a clean transfer to Guangdong Province in August 2004. The teaching hospitals, the anatomy collection and the organ-failure research all date from that period.
Two campuses, two cities
Guangzhou (Baiyun District) and Shunde (Foshan). Guangzhou has a dedicated international dormitory building; on the Shunde campus SMU states that international students live with Chinese students in the shared dormitories.
Admission
Admission, programs & tuition
Southern Medical University admits international students to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees and to non-degree study, and it is one of the Chinese medical universities that teaches a full undergraduate medical degree in English: clinical medicine and dentistry are delivered in both Chinese and English, every other bachelor’s major in Chinese only. Entry is age-bounded at all three levels — the How to Apply page requires bachelor’s applicants to be under 30, master’s applicants under 35 and doctoral applicants under 40 — and applicants under 18 are not excluded but must supply a notarised guardian authorisation naming an adult who permanently resides in China. Applications go through the SMU International Students Management System; the same page names December and June as the two application periods each year for self-supporting students and visiting scholars, and early January and March for the two Chinese Government Scholarship channels. Admission is not decided on paper alone: SMU screens applicants with a written entrance examination and an interview before issuing a pre-admission decision, and the file includes a three-to-five-minute self-introduction video. The one thing SMU does not publish in English is money — its English site carries a “Tuition & Fees (RMB)” heading with no priced table behind it, and current rates live in the Chinese-language admission guide the School of International Education issues each December. The figures below are the ones the university printed in its own 2024 English-language admission guide: budget against them, do not treat them as the 2026 price, and ask studysmu@smu.edu.cn to confirm in writing before you transfer anything.
Degree programs
Select a degree level to see tuition, duration and entry requirements.
Bachelor’s degreeUndergraduate
Two English-taught routes and a much wider Chinese-taught list. In English: the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) in clinical medicine and the BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery), both six years — SMU’s own guide is explicit that this is “six years including one year of internship in hospitals”, so five years of coursework and clinical teaching, then a full internship year. In Chinese: the English Catalog of Programs lists 25 majors under five degrees — Bachelor of Medicine (basic medical sciences, clinical medicine, dentistry, medical imaging, traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and massage therapy, integrative medicine, preventive medicine, forensic medicine, psychologic medicine), Bachelor of Science (medical examination technology, pharmacy, clinical pharmacy, traditional Chinese pharmacology, nursing, midwifery, bioinformatics, biotechnology, rehabilitation therapy, applied psychology, applied statistics), Bachelor of Engineering (biomedical engineering), Bachelor of Management (public affairs management, health service and management) and Bachelor of Law (health law); the 2024 guide lists 27, adding anaesthesiology and paediatrics. Chinese-medium clinical medicine follows SMU’s standard five-year curriculum, in which clinical practice alone accounts for 52 credits, 19.47% of the total. Graduates receive a Graduation Certificate and a Bachelor’s Degree Certificate.
- MBBS / BDS, English-medium (2024 guide rate)
- RMB 45,000 / year
- All Chinese-medium bachelor’s majors (2024 guide rate)
- RMB 30,000 / year
Application requirements
- Foreign citizenship with a valid passport and good health. The How to Apply page sets the bachelor’s age limit at under 30; the 2024 guide gives the band as 18–30.
- A senior high-school diploma or above.
- English proficiency for the MBBS and BDS: the 2024 guide asks for TOEFL above 80 with 15 or more in each section, or IELTS 6.0 with 5.5 or more in each band.
- Chinese proficiency: the same guide lists HSK Level 4 with a score above 180. It prints the English and Chinese thresholds in one block without stating which applies to which route, so confirm which certificate your programme needs before you book a test.
- A written entrance examination and an interview, sat before pre-admission. The 2024 guide held the test on the 15th of each month from December onwards; the current calendar is not published in English.
- Proof of financial support: a guarantee of at least RMB 150,000 covering tuition, accommodation, living expenses and international travel for the whole period of study.
- Applicants under 18 must submit a notarised guardian authorisation naming an adult who permanently resides in China.
Master’s degreeGraduate
Professional and academic master’s degrees across clinical medicine, dentistry, traditional Chinese medicine, nursing, public health, pharmacy, biomedical engineering, basic medical sciences and health management, plus disciplines in economics, pedagogy and engineering. SMU’s English programme catalogue gives three years as the standard length and states that programmes are delivered in both Chinese and English; graduates receive a Graduate Certificate and a Master’s Degree Certificate after coursework, thesis and defence. Language is the practical constraint here, not the degree title — see the requirements below.
- Chinese-medium master’s (2024 guide rate)
- RMB 38,000 / year
- English-medium master’s (2024 guide rate)
- RMB 41,000 / year
Application requirements
- A bachelor’s degree, foreign citizenship, and age under 35 at the time of application.
- For clinical medicine, dentistry, traditional Chinese medicine and nursing: a certificate of HSK Level 5 or above with a score of 180 or above. SMU’s programme catalogue adds that the graduation thesis for these programmes must be written in Chinese — which in practice rules them out without working Chinese, whatever language the taught courses use.
- Notarised bachelor’s degree certificate and full transcripts, with certified translations if they are not in Chinese or English.
- Proof of financial support of at least RMB 150,000 for self-supporting applicants, plus the physical examination record, blue-background ID photograph and 3–5 minute self-introduction video.
Doctoral degreeGraduate
Doctoral study in biology, biomedical engineering, basic medical sciences, clinical medicine, dentistry and public health, delivered in Chinese and in English, over three years of coursework, published academic work, dissertation and defence, leading to a Doctor’s Degree Certificate. SMU also runs a China–Portugal doctoral programme in health management with ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon through the School of Health Management, which is admitted separately from the School of International Education route.
- Chinese-medium doctoral (2024 guide rate)
- RMB 45,000 / year
- English-medium doctoral (2024 guide rate)
- RMB 48,000 / year
Application requirements
- A master’s degree, foreign citizenship, and age under 40 at the time of application.
- For clinical medicine and dentistry: a certificate of HSK Level 4 or above with a score of 180 or above — a lower bar than the HSK 5 the same subjects require at master’s level, which is unusual and worth confirming for your specific programme.
- Notarised master’s degree certificate and transcripts with certified translations where needed, the physical examination record, ID photograph and self-introduction video.
- Proof of financial support of at least RMB 150,000 for self-supporting applicants.
- Chinese Government Scholarship applicants apply in early January or March — through their home country’s dispatching authority or the Chinese Embassy for the Bilateral Program, or directly to SMU for the Chinese University Program.
Non-degree programs
Foundation programme
A preparatory year before degree study, and one of the six study categories on SMU’s online application form alongside doctoral, master’s, undergraduate, senior scholar and general scholar. No curriculum or progression rule is published in English — ask what the foundation year leads into, and on what conditions.
Fee · RMB 12,000 per semester or RMB 23,000 per year (2024 guide rates)
General scholar (普通进修生)
Non-degree study for holders of a bachelor’s degree: you select courses in clinical skills or specific subjects rather than following a fixed programme. No degree is awarded.
Fee · Not published on SMU’s English pages — ask the School of International Education
Senior scholar (高级进修生)
Non-degree study for holders of a master’s degree or above, built around a research project rather than coursework. Visiting scholars apply on the same December and June cycle as self-supporting students.
Fee · Not published on SMU’s English pages — ask the School of International Education
Documents to prepare
- A completed application in the SMU International Students Management System, with all materials uploaded.
- A copy of the passport photo page, valid for the whole period of study.
- The notarised certificate of your highest academic qualification, with a certified translation if it is not in Chinese or English.
- Full academic transcripts, with certified translations where needed.
- A 2-inch identification photograph on a blue background, and a foreigner physical examination record.
- A language proficiency certificate — HSK for Chinese-medium programmes, TOEFL or IELTS for the English-medium MBBS and BDS.
- A self-introduction video of 3 to 5 minutes, no larger than 50 MB.
- Proof of financial support: evidence of at least RMB 150,000 to cover tuition, accommodation, living expenses and international travel during your study in China, with the guarantor’s documents.
- For applicants under 18: a notarised guardian authorisation letter naming an adult who permanently resides in China.
- The non-refundable registration fee — RMB 800 per person in the 2024 guide.
Application timeline
These are the dates Southern 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.
- 1
Applications open for the September 2026 intake
December 2025SMU’s How to Apply page states that self-supporting students and visiting scholars apply in December and June every year. It does not print an exact opening date; the university’s 2024 English admission guide opened on 15 December.
- 2
Chinese Government Scholarship — Bilateral Program
Early January 2026Applied for through your home country’s dispatching authority or the Chinese Embassy there, not to SMU. The How to Apply page gives early January and March as the two windows.
- 3
Chinese Government Scholarship — Chinese University Program
Early January – March 2026Applied for directly to Southern Medical University in the same two windows.
- 4
Written entrance examination and interview
Monthly, December 2025 – June 2026SMU screens applicants with a written test and an interview before pre-admission. The 2024 guide held the test on the 15th of each month from December onwards; SMU does not publish the 2026 calendar in English, so ask the School of International Education for your dates.
- 5
Pre-admission results announced
From January 2026Released on a rolling basis rather than on one date — the 2024 guide announced pre-admission from January onwards.
- 6
Final application deadline
June 2026June is the second and last application period the How to Apply page names each year; the 2024 guide closed on 30 June.
- 7
Admission Notice, JW201/202 form and visa
July – August 2026Admitted students take the Admission Notice and the JW201/202 form to a Chinese embassy. Study of more than six months needs an X1 visa; six months or less takes an X2.
- 8
Registration and start of the academic year
September 2026The 2024 guide had students register in September. Medical insurance bought in China must be in place before registration, and the X1 visa becomes a residence permit at the School of International Education within 30 days of arrival.
Two things before you budget. First, every tuition figure above is the rate SMU printed in its own 2024 English-language admission guide — the most detailed fee table it has published in English. The university resets fees in the Chinese-language guide the School of International Education issues each December, and the English site’s “Tuition & Fees (RMB)” heading has no priced table behind it, so treat these as a 2024 baseline and ask studysmu@smu.edu.cn to confirm the 2026 rate in writing. Second, tuition is not the whole bill: the 2024 guide states that textbooks, board, medical expenses, utility bills, medical insurance and visa extensions are paid on top, and medical insurance bought inside China is compulsory before you can register, though SMU does not publish the premium in English. The RMB 800 registration fee is non-refundable, and self-supporting applicants must show a guarantee of at least RMB 150,000 covering tuition, accommodation, living costs and international travel for the whole period of study.
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Scholarships
SMU’s funding sits in three layers, and the layer you belong to depends on how long you have been at the university. Before you arrive, the Chinese Government Scholarship is the only route to a full package — tuition exemption, on-campus accommodation or a subsidy, a stipend and comprehensive medical insurance — applied for in early January or March, either through your home country’s dispatching authority and the Chinese Embassy (Bilateral Program) or directly to SMU (Chinese University Program). In your first year as a self-funded student you can compete for two one-time freshman awards, one provincial and one from the university. From your second year onward three further annual awards open up, including a Chinese Government Scholarship for students already enrolled. The amounts below come from SMU’s 2024 English admission guide; the university’s English scholarship page names the awards but prints no figures, so confirm the current values before you count on them.
Chinese Government Scholarship — Bilateral Program
Full scholarship: exemption from tuition, accommodation on campus or an accommodation monetary subsidy, a stipend, and comprehensive medical insurance.
Eligibility: Applied for through your home country’s dispatching authority or the Chinese Embassy there, in early January or March, under an agreement between the two governments. SMU does not run the selection — you must be nominated through the national channel before the university sees your file.
Chinese Government Scholarship — Chinese University Program
Full scholarship on the same terms: tuition exemption, campus accommodation or a subsidy, stipend and comprehensive medical insurance.
Eligibility: Applied for directly to Southern Medical University in early January or March — the channel to use if your country has no bilateral quota or you have missed the embassy deadline.
Guangdong Government Outstanding International Students Scholarship for Freshmen
A one-time award: the 2024 guide gives RMB 30,000 for doctoral students, RMB 20,000 for master’s students and RMB 10,000 for undergraduates.
Eligibility: First-year self-funded international students at SMU, on academic merit. A provincial award administered through the university, not something you apply for before admission.
Southern Medical University Outstanding International Students Scholarship for Freshmen
A one-time award at the same levels the 2024 guide gives for the university’s outstanding-student award: RMB 30,000 doctoral, RMB 20,000 master’s, RMB 10,000 undergraduate.
Eligibility: First-year self-funded international students. SMU’s scholarship page pairs it with the Guangdong freshman award, so a strong first-year applicant is in the running for both.
Southern Medical University President Scholarship
Tiered rather than one-time. First prize is full tuition exemption plus a stipend — RMB 2,500 a month for 12 months at doctoral level in the 2024 guide; second prize is tuition exemption; third prize is half tuition.
Eligibility: SMU’s own award for outstanding international students. No separate application form or deadline is published, so ask the School of International Education how nominations are made in your school.
Chinese Government Scholarship for Distinguished International Students
An annual one-time award for students already enrolled; SMU does not publish the amount on its English pages.
Eligibility: Students who have been at SMU for more than one academic year. Applied for once a year alongside the Guangdong Government Outstanding International Students Scholarship and SMU’s own outstanding-student award, which are open to the same group.
Research
Research at the university
SMU’s research is clinical medicine first and everything else in support of it. The university reports 30 national science and technology awards in the three top categories and 62 first prizes at provincial and ministerial level, and in 2025 it won 440 National Natural Science Foundation of China grants — the highest number of any independent medical university in the country, according to its own introduction page. The national platforms sit inside Nanfang Hospital: a national key laboratory and a National Research Center for Clinical Medicine. Around them are Ministry of Education laboratories and engineering research centres in basic medical sciences, biomedical engineering, public health and tropical medicine and Zhujiang Hospital, three third-level laboratories approved by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Guangdong provincial key laboratories covering proteomics, gene engineering, new-drug screening and severe mental illness.
Clinical and digital anatomy
The field SMU is best known for. Academician Zhong Shizhen (钟世镇) built the university’s clinical anatomy research system and its human anatomy museum out of decades of specimen casting work.
Chronic kidney disease and organ failure
Academician Hou Fanfan (侯凡凡) leads chronic kidney disease research at Nanfang Hospital and has twice taken the National Science and Technology Progress Award, in 2004 and 2007. The national key laboratory and the National Research Center for Clinical Medicine are in the same hospital.
Tumour pathology and nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Academician Yao Kaitai (姚开泰) is a founding figure in Chinese nasopharyngeal carcinoma research with more than 300 papers; Professor Ding Yanqing (丁彦青) runs the provincial key laboratory of molecular tumour pathology.
Neuroscience and biomedical engineering
Academician Gao Tianming (高天明) directs the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau brain science centre, and Professor Chen Wufan (陈武凡), a national 973 chief scientist with 92 authorised patents, anchors medical imaging — biomedical engineering being one of the few non-medicine bachelor’s degrees open to international students.
- 440 National Natural Science Foundation grants in 2025, the highest total among China’s independent medical universities according to the university.
- A national key laboratory and a National Research Center for Clinical Medicine, both based at Nanfang Hospital.
- 15 disciplines in the ESI global top 1%, two of them — clinical medicine, and pharmacology & toxicology — in the top 1‰.
- 12 national teaching achievement awards including two first prizes, 23 national first-class undergraduate programme construction points and 61 national first-class courses.
- Approval in 2004 to pilot China’s eight-year medical degree — the university describes itself as the only independent medical university running it.
Global engagement
Global engagement
SMU’s international work has two quite different halves, and it matters which one you are looking at. The inbound half is degree study for international students, run by the School of International Education, which the university says has trained 2,112 international students from 99 countries, alongside 4,032 trainees from 124 friendly countries on shorter professional courses. The outbound half is partnership and mobility for SMU’s own students and staff, run by the International Exchange and Cooperation Office: the university reports friendly relations with 97 universities, research institutes and medical institutions across 29 countries and regions, and its home page counts 82 high-level international partners. The most substantial joint degrees are Portuguese: the School of Health Management runs China–Portugal doctoral and master’s programmes in health management with ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, with cooperation in the same office extending to the University of Birmingham.
ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal)
SMU’s deepest joint-degree relationship: China–Portugal doctoral and master’s programmes in health management, run through the School of Health Management’s international programmes office, which reports 749 students trained, 359 graduates and 52 academic publications as of 31 August 2026. Master’s entry needs a bachelor’s degree (or an outstanding final-year undergraduate who will graduate before going to Portugal), an English proficiency certificate, transcripts, a CV and an RMB 500 application fee — a separate route from the School of International Education.
University of Birmingham (United Kingdom)
Named by the School of Health Management’s international programmes office as a partner in its international cooperative master’s provision, alongside the Portuguese programmes.
Winter and summer mobility portfolio
The International Exchange and Cooperation Office advertises short programmes at Cambridge, Oxford, NUS, NTU, the University of Tokyo, Waseda, UC San Diego, Adelaide, HKU and the University of Macau, plus United Nations and WMO junior professional openings. These are outbound programmes for SMU’s own students — useful once you enrol, not a route in.
Career
Career & alumni
The career case for SMU is the hospital network rather than a placement service. Eight directly affiliated and seven jointly built hospitals, 13 of them Grade-III Class-A with roughly 22,500 beds between them, mean the MBBS internship year and the clinical teaching before it happen inside institutions the university owns — Nanfang and Zhujiang are the First and Second Clinical Medical Schools, not outside partners. What SMU does not publish is outcomes: no employment rate, no salary figure and no placement report for international graduates appears anywhere on its English pages, so treat any such number on an agent’s site as unsourced. Employment support is signposted through the university’s student employment portal, listed under 学生就业 in the main site navigation and shared with domestic students. For an MBBS applicant the decisive career question is not employment but licensing, and it is answered outside China — see the FAQ below.
Career support
- A one-year clinical internship inside SMU’s own affiliated hospitals as the final year of the MBBS and BDS.
- Clinical teaching through the First Clinical Medical School (Nanfang Hospital), the Second Clinical Medical School (Zhujiang Hospital) and the Stomatology Hospital for dentistry.
- The university student employment portal, linked from the main site under 学生就业 and shared with Chinese students.
- The School of International Education, which handles residence permits and visa extensions after enrolment.
- Research-track routes for graduates who stay on: SMU holds 8 postdoctoral research stations.
Notable alumni
Campus life
Campus life
Where you live depends on your campus. On the Guangzhou campus in Baiyun District, SMU keeps a dedicated building for international students, which it describes as equipped with air conditioning, internet and a hot water supply system. On the Shunde campus in Foshan there is no separate international building: SMU states that international students live with Chinese students in the ordinary dormitories. The Guangzhou campus sits on Shatai South Road with the Qilin Hills behind it — the hills the university’s emblem takes its qilin from. Beyond accommodation, SMU publishes very little about student life in English: no canteen list, no sports facility list, no meal prices. Plan to find that out on arrival, and ask the School of International Education about the current dormitory allocation before you book anything.
Accommodation
International student dormitory — Guangzhou (Baiyun) campus
RMB 9,000 per person per academic year (double), RMB 5,000 (triple), RMB 18,000 (single, postgraduate) — 2024 guide rates
The rates come from SMU’s 2024 English admission guide and are quoted per academic year, not per month; utilities are billed separately. Confirm the current price and whether a room is guaranteed before you accept an offer.
Shunde campus dormitories — Foshan
Not published separately on SMU’s English pages
SMU states only that international students in Shunde live with Chinese students and that their daily needs are well met. If your programme is based there, ask for the room type and price before you commit — the Guangzhou rates above are not stated to apply.
Dining
SMU does not publish canteen locations, opening hours or meal prices for international students on any of its English pages, and the 2024 admission guide lists board simply as a cost paid on top of tuition. Budget for food separately and check the arrangements at registration rather than relying on a figure from an agency site.
Facilities
Two campuses, 1.68 million m²
Guangzhou (No. 1023–1063 Shatai South Road, Baiyun District) and Shunde (No. 33 Magang Avenue, Ronggui Subdistrict, Shunde District, Foshan), with a combined area of about 1.68 million square metres per the English history page.
The human anatomy museum
Built out of academician Zhong Shizhen’s specimen casting work and one of the university’s best-known teaching assets — an unusual resource for a first-year medical student to have on site.
Compulsory medical insurance
The Ministry of Education requires international students to buy medical insurance inside China before registering, and SMU restates the rule on its Medical Insurance page. The premium is not published in English — ask the School of International Education what it costs for your programme length.
Visa and residence permit support
Study longer than six months is on an X1 visa, converted into a residence permit at the School of International Education within 30 days of arrival; six months or less is an X2. The Admission Notice and the JW201/202 form are what you take to the embassy.
Campus
Southern Medical University in photos
Photos of Southern Medical University
Photos will appear here once they are uploaded from the Qiao admin panel. In the meantime, Qiao is on it.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much is tuition at Southern Medical University for international students?+
The last rates SMU published in English, in its own 2024 Admission Guide for International Students, were RMB 45,000 a year for the English-medium MBBS and BDS, RMB 30,000 for Chinese-medium bachelor’s majors, RMB 38,000 (Chinese) or RMB 41,000 (English) at master’s level and RMB 45,000 (Chinese) or RMB 48,000 (English) at doctoral level, plus a non-refundable RMB 800 registration fee. Treat those as a 2024 baseline, not a 2026 quotation: fees are reset in the Chinese-language guide the School of International Education issues each December, and the English site’s Tuition & Fees heading has no priced table behind it. Email studysmu@smu.edu.cn for the current figure in writing, and budget separately for accommodation (RMB 5,000–9,000 a year for a shared room in the 2024 guide), compulsory medical insurance bought in China, textbooks, utilities and visa extensions.
Is the MBBS at Southern Medical University taught in English, and how long is it?+
Yes. SMU’s English degree-programs page states that clinical medicine and dentistry are delivered in both Chinese and English while every other bachelor’s major is delivered in Chinese, and the university’s admission guide names the English-medium routes as MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) and BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery). Both run six years, and the guide is specific that this is six years including one year of internship in hospitals — five years of coursework and clinical teaching, then a full internship year. The guide does not name the internship hospitals, but SMU’s clinical teaching runs through its own network of eight directly affiliated and seven jointly built hospitals, including Nanfang and Zhujiang.
Is Southern Medical University “recognised by the WHO”? Will my country’s medical council accept the degree?+
Be careful with that phrase — it is the most misquoted line in Chinese MBBS marketing. The World Health Organization does not accredit, recognise or endorse individual medical schools and has not maintained a list of them for years. What exists instead is the World Directory of Medical Schools, published by the World Federation for Medical Education and FAIMER, and that directory states in its own terms that being listed “does not denote recognition, accreditation, or endorsement”. The Medical Council of India, named in older write-ups of SMU, was dissolved in 2020 and replaced by the National Medical Commission, which sets its own rules on course length, internship and language. SMU itself makes no recognition claim in its 2024 admission guide. So do two things before you enrol: check SMU’s current entry in the World Directory of Medical Schools, and read your own medical council’s rules on foreign medical graduates — they, not the university and not the WHO, decide whether you can sit a licensing exam at home.
What language test do I need — HSK, IELTS or TOEFL?+
It depends on the language your programme is taught in. For the English-medium MBBS and BDS the 2024 guide asks for TOEFL above 80 with 15 or more in each section, or IELTS 6.0 with 5.5 or more in each band. For Chinese-medium undergraduate study the same guide lists HSK Level 4 with a score above 180. At postgraduate level the rules are printed per subject: master’s applicants in clinical medicine, dentistry, traditional Chinese medicine and nursing need HSK Level 5 with 180 or above, and SMU adds that the graduation thesis for those programmes must be written in Chinese; doctoral applicants in clinical medicine and dentistry need HSK Level 4 with 180 or above. The 2024 undergraduate guide prints the English and Chinese thresholds in one block without saying which applies to which route, so confirm which certificate your programme needs before you pay for a test.
When do applications open and close, and is there an entrance exam?+
SMU’s How to Apply page gives two application periods each year for self-supporting students and visiting scholars — December and June — with the two Chinese Government Scholarship channels applied for in early January and March. For the September 2026 intake that means a window running from December 2025 to June 2026; the 2024 guide ran from 15 December to 30 June, so expect the same shape. There is an entrance exam: SMU screens applicants with a written examination and an interview before pre-admission, and in the 2024 cycle the test fell on the 15th of each month from December, with results released from January. The 2026 test calendar is not published in English, so ask the School of International Education for the current dates rather than assuming the 15th.
What scholarships can I get, and can I apply before I arrive?+
Before you arrive, the Chinese Government Scholarship is the only full package — tuition exemption, campus accommodation or a subsidy, a stipend and comprehensive medical insurance — applied for in early January or March, either through your home country’s dispatching authority and the Chinese Embassy (Bilateral Program) or directly to SMU (Chinese University Program). Once here as a self-funded student, two one-time freshman awards open up: the Guangdong Government Outstanding International Students Scholarship for Freshmen and SMU’s own freshman award, worth RMB 10,000 for undergraduates, RMB 20,000 for master’s students and RMB 30,000 for doctoral students in the 2024 guide. SMU also runs a President Scholarship whose first prize is full tuition plus a stipend (RMB 2,500 a month for 12 months at doctoral level), with second and third prizes covering full and half tuition. After a year of enrolment you can apply annually for the Chinese Government Scholarship for Distinguished International Students and the Guangdong and SMU outstanding-student awards.
Is there an age limit, and where will I live?+
Yes — the limit is set by degree level: bachelor’s applicants must be under 30, master’s applicants under 35 and doctoral applicants under 40, with the 2024 guide giving the undergraduate band as 18 to 30. Being under 18 is not a bar, but you must submit a notarised guardian authorisation naming an adult who permanently resides in China. On accommodation, the Guangzhou campus has a dedicated international student building with air conditioning, internet and hot water; the 2024 guide priced rooms at RMB 9,000 per person per academic year for a double, RMB 5,000 for a triple and RMB 18,000 for a postgraduate single. On the Shunde campus there is no separate international building — international students live in the dormitories with Chinese students, and no separate price is published.
Contact
Contact the admissions offices
Reach the School of International Education (国际教育学院), Southern Medical University — international student admissions for questions about applications, documents, scholarships and arrival. Type university programs and offices are based on campus in Guangzhou.
- Office
- School of International Education (国际教育学院), Southern Medical University — international student admissions
- Address
- School of International Education, Southern Medical University, No. 1023 Shatai South Road, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, P.R. China
- studysmu@smu.edu.cn — international student admissions, School of International Education (the address printed in the university’s admission guide)403928103@qq.com — International Exchange and Cooperation Office, for institutional partnerships and outbound exchange rather than admissions
- Phone
- +86-20-61648385 — School of International Education, international admissions+86-20-61648354 — fax, School of International Education61648027 — International Exchange and Cooperation Office; the office publishes the local number only, so dial +86-20 first from outside China020-62789516 — School of Health Management international programmes office (SMU–ISCTE joint doctoral and master’s degrees)020-62789482 — School of Health Management international programmes office, second line
Verified from official sources · last checked 2026-09-17
Tuition, fees and deadlines change every intake. Always confirm the current figures on the official Southern Medical University pages before applying.
- SMU — How to Apply (international students, English)
- SMU — International education overview (English)
- SMU — Introduction of Degree Programs (English)
- SMU — Catalog of Programs for International Students (English)
- SMU — Scholarship (international students, English)
- SMU — Accommodation & Facilities (English)
- SMU — Medical Insurance (English)
- SMU — Visa Application (English)
- SMU — History (English)
- SMU — Organization Structure (English)
- SMU — Undergraduate education (English)
- SMU — Centers and Institutes (English)
- SMU — Partner universities (English)
- 南方医科大学 — 学校简介
- 南方医科大学 — 学科建设
- 南方医科大学 — 名人名师
- 南方医科大学 — 学校标识（校徽、大学精神）
- 南方医科大学 — 首页（校区地址、机构导航）
- 南方医科大学国际教育学院 — 在线申请系统
- 南方医科大学国际教育学院 — 研究生（进修生）招生专业目录 PDF
- 南方医科大学国际交流与合作处 — 公告通知
- 南方医科大学卫生管理学院国际项目办公室（中葡、中英合作项目）
- SMU–ISCTE master programmes — admission requirements
- Southern Medical University — 2024 Admission Guide for International Students (official SMU brochure, PDF)
- Times Higher Education — Southern Medical University profile
- QS Top Universities — Southern Medical University profile
- World Directory of Medical Schools — search and listing disclaimer
- Wikipedia — Southern Medical University (history and affiliated hospitals)