A freshman at the School of Traditional Chinese Pharmacy of China Pharmaceutical University holds up a seed of a Chinese herb given by the school. [Photo/IC]

China Pharmaceutical University, the first university in China to conduct traditional Chinese medicine education, has been increasing efforts to train TCM talents.

Located in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, the university's School of Traditional Chinese Pharmacy focuses on cultivating students' ability to develop new medicine, improve quality of drugs, as well as improve pharmaceutical technologies, said Wang Xinran, the former deputy dean of the school.

According to Wang, the university has upgraded its curriculum by including more courses related to classical TCM works such as Shanghan Lun (The Treatise on Cold Damage Disorder) and opening 68 elective courses on a wide range of subjects.

The university has also expanded cooperation with companies in the TCM industry. For example, it has designed a course with Nanjing Zhongshan Pharmacy that teaches students how to make TCM capsules out of raw materials. It has also built off-campus training bases with 21 hospitals and companies where students can practice professional skills.

Due to these efforts, students from China Pharmaceutical University has initiated 182 TCM-related innovation and entrepreneurship projects over the past five years, and a variety of their products are already available on the market.