At the Fourth UK–China Healthcare Workforce Development Annual Conference in London on 13 October, a presentation from Hunan Provincial Health Commission proposed an international medical education accreditation pilot, drawing on GMC and quality assurance frameworks. Hunan also proposed joint work on curricula and specialist training, and research cooperation in evidence-based traditional Chinese medicine and digital health.
The conference was organised by the UK's Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade and the Health Human Resources Development Centre of China's National Health Commission, through their bilateral UK–China Healthcare Workforce Development Platform, held at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. It was the first time the annual conference had been held outside China.
Hunan was among several Chinese health authorities, hospitals and medical colleges presenting. China already has its own medical education accrediting agency, recognised by the World Federation for Medical Education.
UWE Bristol and Hainan Medical University offer a different example. UWE's published 2023–24 specification for its BSc (Hons) International Nursing Practice identifies UWE as the awarding institution and both universities as teaching institutions. It refers to the Chinese nursing curriculum and states that the programme does not enable entry to the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Register.
UWE also offers a BSc (Hons) Nursing (Adult) in the UK, designed to lead to NMC registration. Both are UWE degrees, designed for different purposes. In the UK, NMC approval is part of the nursing programme itself. In Hainan, UWE awards a degree through a programme that does not carry that approval.
The academic award comes from the university. The authority to register nurses in the UK rests with the regulator.
Professor Hany Eteiba, President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, presented the College's work in postgraduate education, examinations and support for its international membership. Its professional qualifications serve a different purpose from university degrees and statutory registration.
Hunan's proposal concerns medical education accreditation rather than nursing registration, and the two should not be read as the same case.
Some years ago, EFEC worked with Shanghai Pudong New Area Xingzhi Education Development Centre to support the delivery of an NCFE CACHE qualification in caring for children at a local vocational college. The college's teachers also trained as assessors. There was no professional register involved, but the experience left us paying closer attention to which parts of a qualification keep their meaning outside the system that designed it.
What does a UK qualification represent when it is delivered within a different education or regulatory system?
Main image: Hunan Provincial Health Commission presentation at the conference, London, 13 October 2026
